CMYK

FEBRUARY 17, , , , , 20142014201420142014

NIGERIA spent a total of N1.2trillion on importationof vehicles last year. A break

down of the figure showed that N550billion was spent on importation ofcars, buses and trucks. This does notinclude tractors and military vehicles.Also, Nigeria spent around N500billion on spare parts and on tyresalone, it spent N150 billion. This sametrend is continuing unabated.

These facts were disclosed by Engr.Aminu Jalal, Director-General, NationalAutomotive Council (NAC) in aninterview with Financial Vanguard onthe recently introduced automotivepolicy by the Federal Government. Hesaid, “This is not good for our country.With the new policy, we are going tosupport our car plants to produce verystandard cars at globally competitiveprices.

“This is going to greatly add to ourlocal content. For example, to assemblea car here, you need about 2,500 parts.If many cars are produced and soldhere, it would encourage the localmanufacturing of these parts, creatingmore wealth here and driving down thecost of vehicles. By the time we startimplementing this policy, you will seea very impressive positive change injust six months”

Stakeholders in the local automotiveindustry however are demanding for

LAUNCHING - From left: Mr Paul Ofulue, Enterprise Account Manager, Oil and Gas, HP; Mr Ade Akinlade, Enter-prise Account Manager, Financial Institutions and Telecommunication, HP and Mr Femi Aderibigbe, Chief Informa-tion Officer, Keystone Bank PLC at the launch of HP Office Jet Pro X in Lagos.

Continues on page 18

50 per cent patronage of locallyproduced vehicles, a vibrant vehiclespurchase scheme and policyconsistency through legislation bythe Federal Government if the newpolicy for the sector is to work.

They say if the policy is wellimplemented this time, distributors offoreign brands of cars in the countrywill go out of business by 2024. Thelocal industry is made up of 19companies such as PAN Nigeria inKaduna, National Trucks

Manufacturers Limited (NTM) in Kano;Steyr Nigeria Limited in Bauchi;ANAMMCO in Enugu; Innoson VehicleManufacturing Company in Nnewi,Anambra State; Zahav Automobile inLagos; Leyland in Ibadan; VONAutomobile, Lagos; Leventis in Lagos;Iron Products Industries Limited inLagos; Gorgeous Metals Limited inKaduna; Autobahn Techniques inLagos; Proforce Limited (armouredvehicles) in Ode-Remo, Ogun State andLasbag in Akure etc.

Investigation by Financial Vanguardshowed that as a result of the policy,three international vehicle

manufacturers — Nissan, Hyundai andAshok Leyland — have moved to VONAutomobiles of Nigeria Limitedassembly plants in Lagos to startproduction in Nigeria.

Financial Vanguard's visit to VON,Lagos further revealed that made-in-Nigeria Ashok Leyland commercialvehicles from completely knocked-downcomponents for local and sub-SaharaAfrican markets, strewn across thepremises. Nissan is said to haveconcluded plans to roll out the firstbatch of its made-in-Nigeria cars in

•Operators demand 50% government patronage•Say foreign car distributors will go out of business by 2024

Nigeria spends N1.2trn onvehicle imports in 2013

CURRENCY BUYING CENTRAL SELLING

CBN Exchange rate as at 14/02/2014

108.79 -0.78

100.05 +0.17

135.9 0.2

2,904.00 -18.00

15.64 -0.09

DOLLAR 154.75 155.25 155.75POUNDS 257.3957 258.2273 259.059EURO 211.404 212.087 212.7701FRANC 173.021 173.5801 174.1391YEN 1.5164 1.5213 1.5262CFA 0.3037 0.3137 0.3237WAUA 237.3402 238.107 238.8739RENMINBI 25.5181 25.601 25.6839RIYA 41.2623 41.3956 41.5289KRONA 28.269 28.3603 28.4516SDR 237.8508 238.6193 239.3878

By FRANKLIN ALLI

Cover Story

CMYK

18 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014

Continued from page 17

,

,

,

,

Continues on page 19

FORMSOFENTREPRENEUR:

There are different formsof entrepreneurship,

and they will be treated oneafter the other.

Sole proprietorship:This is a situation whereby

the function of anentrepreneur is performed byone person, who owns thebusiness but has people whoare led by him or her, workingto achieve the desiredsuccess. It is important to notethat running a business forthe sake of just making profitfor yourself is notentrepreneurship; you mustbe an employer of labour. Ifyou look around the countrytoday, we have lots ofentrepreneurs who fall underthis category, e.g. Eleganza

The Basic Guide to StartingYour Business Part 7

assembly plants are on, allother linkages will come up. Itwill affect agriculture, wood,textile, chemicals, etc. Theimpact it will have on Nigerianeconomy is enormous. So,government should enforce thebuying of made-in-Nigeriagoods. It should start from allits ministries, departments andagencies. Nigerians must buywhat is made in Nigeria; be itauto vehicles or other products.Some of the vehicles importedinto the country are nottropicalised, after one or twoyears, they break down andyou cannot get their spare parts

Nigeria spends N1.2trn on vehicle imports

Some cardealers areknown to

make up to300 per cent

return ontheir initialinvestmentannually

In fact, ifyou don’t

enjoy whatyou aredoing,

chances arethat you

won’tsucceed

PRESENTATION: From left: Chairman, Augustine University Project Fund Raising Commit-tee, Chief Molade Okoya-Thomas; Archbishop, Lagos Catholic Archdiocese, His Grace, MostReverend Dr. Alfred Adewale Martins, Deputy Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria Limited,Mr. Tony Okpanachi; Head, Personal Banking, Lagos and South West, Ecobank Nigeria,Folake Aina and Chairman, Zenith Bank Plc, Sir. Steve Omojafor, during presentation ofelectronic boards to Proposed Augustine University, Ilara-Epe, Lagos by Ecobank, at LagosCatholic Archdiocese Secretariat, Lagos Island.

group of companies’ dealersin household and kitchenappliances, Zenon oil, Houseof Tara (a leading make-upbrand in Nigeria), Dangote.All these are examples ofentrepreneurs that are soleproprietors but whatdistinguishes them from theordinary business man, arethat they are employers oflabour (they have employeesworking for them). Theyidentified needs in the societyand made an effort to fill them.

Partnership:This is a situation in which

the business is founded andrun by more than one person,who is also employers oflabour. This type ofentrepreneurship is foundmostly in law firms,accounting firms, estatesurveyors, but not limited tothese practices e.g. we haveDHL, May & Baker, Aluko &Oyebode, amongst others.Other types ofentrepreneurship include

private companies, publiccompanies, limited liabilities,corporations or statutorycorporations.

At this juncture I would liketo state that there is a markeddifference between a businessman and an entrepreneur.While a business man is onewho is involved in businessjust to make profit for himselfand meet his needs, anentrepreneur is one who is anemployer of labour and awealth creator, and is alsoinvolved in business.Interestingly, the steps I willbe treating in this book andeverything I have said so far,applies to both the businessman and an entrepreneur,and that is because mosttimes, some businessesevolve from just business toentrepreneurship.

CHARACTERISTICSOF AN ENTREPRENEURSuccessful entrepreneurs/

business men all around theworld possess certaincharacters, traits or qualities,which have become theyardstick or bench mark formeasuring their success. Ifyou want to thrive then youmust acquire these traits.

Do what you enjoy.Personal satisfaction is a veryimportant ingredient thatcontributes to the growth ofyour business. When you dowhat you enjoy doing, thiswill be reflected in thesuccess of your business orsubsequent lack of success. Infact, if you don’t enjoy whatyou are doing, chances arethat you won’t succeed.

Have an eye foropportunity: manyentrepreneurs are very quickto detect opportunities/ needsand do not hesitate to key intosuch openings and satisfyingthem. They are very smart,sharp and witty, opportunitiesdo not need to presentthemselves twice to the eagle-eyed entrepreneur, just onceand they seize it, making themost of it.

Right mental attitude:successful entrepreneurshave the right mental attitudeand are warm, this endearshim to many. They are veryreceptive and they nurture therelationships that areconnected to their dreams.There’s an old saying that;“your attitude determinesyour altitude”.

May this year.Similarly, Peugeot will be

bringing out new models of508 and 301 by May, whileInnoson VehiclesManufacturing Limited will belaunching its brand of Sudancars in April.

The operators pointed out thatin the 1970s when thegovernment tried to build a carindustry, it formedpartnerships with companiesincluding Peugeot,Volkswagen, Fiat and Daimler-Benz. By the 1980s, most of thecompanies had stoppedoperating because of poordomestic patronage, lowcapacity utilisation, high-costenvironment and failure toimplement the automotivepolicy of the time. Only twosurvived, running at a fractionof their capacity. Nigerians thenturned to imports, includingused cars. Spare partscompanies went out of businessbecause of high cost andcompetition from smuggledimports.

In an interview withFinancial Vanguard, ArthurMadueke, Executive Director,Nigerian AutomotiveManufacturers Association,NAMA, the umbrella body ofall the assembly plants inNigeria, said for the newautomotive policy to work andachieve the desired results,governments (federal, stateand local) should be committedto the policy by buying 50 percent of the locally producedvehicles annually, assertingthat “the ripple effect on theeconomy will be enormouswhen you think about theeconomic linkages andemployment generation.

“As you may be aware, onejob in componentmanufacturing plants feeds oneauto plant and four in otherancillary industries. So, youcan imagine that once the

in Nigeria. Governmentshould be in the lead of buyinglocally made vehicles. Just 50per cent of their purchase willmake the industry thrive.

“We are happy thatinternational car manufacturerslike Toyota and Nissan arecoming back to Nigeria. Thethrust of the new policy for thesector is to create jobs andbring technology to Nigeria.Toyota has never been toNigeria but their cars arebeing imported into thiscountry. Nissan is coming intopartnership with VON to startlocal production of Nissanvehicles in Nigeria and thefactory will be here at VON.The same thing applies toHyundai and Ashok Leyland.

So there are three companiesin one here now to produceSUV cars, vehicles and trucks.They are all here now becauseof the automotive policy. If thepolicy is well implemented thistime, I bet you, vendors offoreign autos in Nigeria maygo out of business by 2024,”added Madueke.

According to him, while carmanufacturing in Nigeria hasfailed a couple of times, cardistributorship business hasbeen doing very well.“Virtually all major car brandsare effectively represented inthe Nigerian market. Forinstance, sole distributorshiparrangements exist with majorcar makers and their Nigerianpartners. The BMW brand ofcars is solely distributed inNigeria by Coscharis Motorslocated in Victoria Island.Toyota, which is the leading carbrand in Nigeria, has ElizadeMotors and Toyota Nigeria Ltdas its main distributors.

Honda cars are distributed byStallion Motors. Mitsubishi isdistributed by CFAO Motors,while KIA is distributed by KIAMotors. These are the majorplayers for the leading carbrands on Nigerian roads.Some car dealers are known tomake up to 300 per cent returnon their initial investmentannually.

Amplifying the support forgovernment patronage, Engr.Aminu Jalal, Director-General,National Automotive Council(NAC), noted that, “patronageof locally produced vehiclesprovides an example and sendsa strong signal to investors byindicating a mark ofconfidence in the industry. Italso shows that government isserious about job and wealthcreation and technologicaldevelopment.

“I want to tell you that lastyear alone, this country spentN550 billion on importationof cars, buses and trucks. That

CMYK

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014 — 19

Continued from page 18

Cover

Continues on page 36

PRESIDENT GoodluckEbele Jonathan hasyielded to the desire

of many for a NationalDialogue. Many who in thepast fanned the embers oftribalism, nepotism anddisunity in Nigeria havealready picked up thegauntlet, preparatory for ashow down at the nationalmeeting. The meeting shouldessentially be on how toremove the nation’s economyfrom the hands of politicians.

Even before the 13-membercommittee, headed by achieftain of the pan-yorubagroup, Afenifere, Senator FemiOkurounmu, started meeting,those who do not see anythinggood about Nigeria have goneto work with the hope of notgiving the dialogue a chance.Jigawa State's Alhaji SuleimanLamido has announced thathis people would not take partin the national dialogue. Butthe dialogue got the backingof a former military Head ofState, Gen. AbdulsalamiAbubakar (rtd). PresidentGoodluck Jonathan whilesetting up the committee onthe national dialogue said thatcontrary to the perception ofcritics on the exercise, thenational dialogue is a concretestep to further strengthenunderstanding among thecitizenry, expand the frontiersof inclusiveness and deepentheir bond as one people underGod.

He allayed the fears of thosewho think the conference willcall the integrity of Nigeria intoquestion, saying a nationaldiscourse would strengthen thenation’s union and addressissues that are often on the frontburner, and are too frequentlyignored. He also noted that thedialogue was a perfect way tocalm tension, and channelmisgivings, grievances and

Who should be at thenational dialogue?

•President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan

suggestions into positive use forthe country.

Jonathan, in his speech,defended his administration’schange of stance to embrace anational conference as a way forthe constituent parts of thecountry to examine and findsolutions to the thorny issuesthat have impaired nationalcohesion. He said the terms ofreference of the committee wereto facilitate a most acceptableprocess that would bring theaspirations of the people tofruition.

He said: “We have wasted toomuch time and resourcesbickering over sectionalversions of what define reality.This is an open-ended luxurywe can no longer afford.

“Let us move forward, withhonest conviction and patrioticcourage to strengthen thisRepublic, and get it to workbetter and brighter for all of us,to the glory of God.

“Of course, you will also agree

with me that over the period,we have been wasting so muchtime putting wedges on ourfront lines. This committee andthe assignment is to rather puta strong mortar that will bindour appendages and make ournation stronger for our owninterest and especially for theinterest of our children yetunborn.”

To every honest andconcerned Nigerian, the

challenge that Nigeria faces isa growing army of unemployedyouths. Most of the older menwho are working against theprogress of Nigeria have hadtheir fill.

Today, the bane of Nigeria’seconomy is that it is beingmanipulated by politicians andtheir co-travelers, the portfoliobusinessmen. Elsewhere, theeconomy is insulated frompolitical oscillation. In Japan forinstance, there is a lot ofpolitical instability, yet the

economy runs. The same thingobtains in most of the Asiantiger countries. In the US ofcourse, the government canonly shape policy but notchange fundamentally thedirection of the economy.

Nigerian leaders of yesterdayare already talking about theinterest of the north and that ofthe south. What is on ground isnot about the interest of thenorth or south. It is about theway forward for Nigerians, theoverall welfare of the averageNigerian, who has beenimpoverished by tribal politicsall these years.

A Nigerian who has access tofood, good medical care, powersupply and good roads will notcare where the president comesfrom. It will not matter to him ifthe man is Hausa, Fulani, Igbo,or Yoruba, as long as the rightpolicies are in place to cater forhis interests. Nigerians, whomust be at the proposednational dialogue must be menand women who see Nigeria asone and indivisible entity,completely detribalised.

It is men of such backgroundthat will be able to look at oneanother in the face and say ‘thisis what is right for this greatnation’. They should be theyoung and vibrant men, whosee only possibility, who seeproblems facing the nation aschallenges that must beovercome no matter howdaunting they seem.

They must be men andwomen who see Nigeria beyondthe sharing of oil revenue. Menof yesterday whose onlythinking is how to develop asharing formula for thefederation account should notbe given any chance to attendthe national dialogue. Suchmen and women will go therewith the mindset of the past.Nigerians must discourage menwith faded glory at theconference. The conferees must

go to the dialogue with themindset of what to do with aNigeria without oil. Suchmindset will bring the best outof the meeting; it will provide aroad map toward the economicemancipation of the Nigeriannation.

For too long, Nigerians havebeen tossed around by thewhims and caprices ofpoliticians, who think ofnothing else but their pocketsand immediate family members.The conferees must develop therule of engagement that willcompletely insulate theeconomy from the politicalclass. Those in politics must betold how to play to the rule insuch a manner that will notjeopardise the economy. Theymust set timelines andmilestones to measure theperformance of those in politicaloffice. The rules of engagementmust be such that placesemphasis on merit and not whoyou know, where you come fromor ability to manipulate thesystem.

The discourse must be aboutputting in place appropriatereward system for those whowork hard and appropriatesanction for those who bend therules.

The discourse must provide away of ensuring that laws areproperly enforced and that noNigerian no matter his positionis above the law. The discoursemust come up with the truedefinition of property rights,protection and the sanctity ofcontract.

The central theme of theconference or dialogue must be‘Nigeria without Oil: What toDo’. Nigeria should bestructured in such a way that inno distant time, it will becomea highly productive economy.Every state in the Nigeria unionhas something to offer; we mustsearch for it, develop it and getthe benefit nationwide.

does not include tractors andmilitary vehicles. Again, wealso spent around N500 billionon spare parts. In fact, on tyresalone, we spent N150 billion.And this year, the same trendis showing.

“This is not good for ourcountry. With the new policy, weare going to support our carplants to produce very standardcars at globally competitiveprices. This is going to greatlyadd to our local content. Forexample, to assemble a carhere, you need about 2,500parts. If many cars are produced

and sold here, it wouldencourage the localmanufacturing of these parts,creating more wealth here anddriving down the cost ofvehicles. By the time we startimplementing this policy, youwill see a very impressivepositive change in just sixmonths.

Another factor for thesuccess of the policy, accordingto Jalal, is policy consistency bygovernment throughlegislation.

“The industry is long-term in

nature, with companies thatstarted the industry over 100years ago still around in oneform or the other (Daimler-Benz, Peugeot, Ford, GM, etc).

Accordingly, our developmentplan should also be long-term,10 years to be renewed everyfive years. And every aspect ofthe plan should be legislated togive comfort to the investorsthat there will be no abruptpolicy changes,” said Jalal.

Madueke, quoted earlier,added: “The last policy failedas a result of, among all other

things, inconsistent policy andthe Structural AdjustmentProgramme, SAP, introducedduring the regime of PresidentIbrahim Badamosi Babangida,IBB. As a result of this, theincome of middle levelNigerians went down becauseof the devaluation of the naira.All these factors impacted on theindustry negatively. We hadabout 350,000 units of ckd,(completely-knocked-down)and the effective demand wasabout 304,000 units, whichshowed that we were producing

more than what Nigeriansrequired. We were also headingfor export until 1986 whenproduction went down by 10 percent of installed capacity. Now,production is picking up and eventhose who are not in production,those who were in componentsmanufacturing are now coming upto support the new automotivepolicy.”

He believes the new policy willsucceed because “there was sort ofwide consultation by OlusegunAganga, Minister of Industry,Trade and Investment. Heconsulted very widely withevery stakeholder that isconcerned in the automotive

Nigeria spends N1.2trn on vehicle imports

20 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014

Business & Economy

CMYK

KPMG Nigeria hascalled on theauthorities in the

capital market to probe anycompany that fails to submitits financial statement for aminimum of one year,saying that it might be a signthat the company ismanipulating its financialstatement or a sign of fraudin such company.

Over the years, theSecurities and ExchangeCommission, SEC, and theNigerian Stock Exchange,NSE, only impose fines oncompanies that fail to submittheir financial statements asat when due.

It is only in rare cases thattrading is suspended on theshares of such companies.For example, the NSE saidit imposed a total fine ofN61.2 million on companiesin 2013 for variousinfractions.

Speaking at the annualseminar for audit committeemembers of the NigeriaShareholders’ SolidarityAssociation, NSSA, inLagos, Mr. Tola Adeyemi,Partner and Head, AuditServices, KPMG, said theregulatory authoritiesshould strictly enforce therules on non-submission offinancial statement and alsocarry out an intensive probeof the financials ofcompanies for fraud.

According to him,

LAUNCHING: From left: Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development Monitoring Board,Engr. Ernest Nwapa, Chairman/Managing Director, ExxonMobil Upstream Companies in Nigeria, Mr. Mark Ward and Division Head, Oil & Gas Upstream, Fidelity Bank PLC, Mr. Abolore Solebo,at the launching of the ExxonMobil Nigeria Contractor Finance Scheme in Lagos.

FRAUD: KPMG seeks probeof companies overaccount submission

By MICHAEL EBOHimmediate action should betaken after the first year acompany fails to submit itsfinancial statement; theauthorities should beam theirsearchlight on the firm andfind out the reason for thedelay.

“Members of auditcommittees of such companiesshould raise alarm at thatmoment. This is becausethese are signs of fraud.

Companies should be put onthe spot as regards earlysubmission of their financialreport,” he noted.

He said audit committeesplay an important role in thelife cycle of every firm,especially in stemming fraudin any organisation.

To strengthen theeffectiveness of auditcommittees, Adeyemiadvocated improvement in the

quality of individualsappointed to auditcommittees; improvement inquality of training andimprovement in the quality ofinformation presented to thecommittee.

Also speaking, Mr.Akinyemi Ashade,

Partner, Audit Services,KPMG, maintained that auditcommittee members shouldadopt all best practices intheir organisations for theprevention and deterrence offraud.

According to him, auditcommittees need to be awarethat they are a part of the bodyresponsible for thegovernance of their variousorganisations and areaccountable to theshareholders whom theyrepresent.

To prevent and detect fraudin the financial statements ofan organisation, Ashadedisclosed that audit committeemembers should perform anassessment of fraud risks,provide effective monitoring,communicate with theexternal auditors of thecompany, report findings tothe Board of Directors, whileensuring that the Board actson its recommendations.

He further stated thatmembers of the committeeshould monitor the financialprocess, ensuring that theyunderstand management’sresponsibilities andrepresentation; reviewearning releases and alsoassess whether the financialstatements are complete andfairly present in all materialrespect among.

The Managing Director of InfrastructureBank, Mr Adeleke Oyinloye, has

advised Development Finance Institutes(DFIs) in Nigeria to re-evaluate their rolesin the nation’s development by contributingto development of real sector.

Oyinloye made the call in Lagos duringhis investiture as Chairman, Association ofNigerian Development Finance Institutions(ANDFI).

He stressed the need for a new advocacyfor finance institutions’ sustainableparticipation in the real sector developmentand for government’s appreciation of theirrole.

Oyinloye described DFIs as the engine ofeconomic growth through the provision oflong-term finance, expertise and skills.

”You can see the fact that the real sectorhas not grown as expected. It might also bedirectly or indirectly traceable to DFIs. If weknow our roles as DFIs, we double andrecommit ourselves; we might be able toimpact on the development of the real sector.

“When members know and appreciate theirmandates, they begin to articulate policiesand structure themselves to meet the needs

Infrastructure Bank urges DFIsto develop real sector

of developing the real sector,” Oyinloye said.He further explained that, “Nigeria is at a

turning point, which not only makesdemands on us all to contribute our quota,but also creates an opportunity to redirectour energy towards actualising our set goals.

“The tasks before us are enormous, but wemust refocus ourselves towards achievingour collective and individual mandates. Thiswill naturally give us a platform to furthertransform ANDFI into a key player to addressissues concerning the real sector of theeconomy."

He pledged that ANDFI would partnerwith government at the various levels fordevelopment.

He said the partnership would be in theareas of policy formulation and financing ofdevelopment projects, while urging thevarious states’ investment companies to seekmembership and benefit from ANDFIs’coordinated development policy and projectfinance initiatives.

He said that the four development banks:Bank of Agriculture, Bank of Industry,Nigerian Export-Import Bank andInfrastructure Bank are members of ANDFI.

FMBN refinancesN32bn mortgagesfor FCT workers

Federal Mortgage Bank ofNigeria (FMBN) said it

had refinanced more than N32billion mortgages for workersto buy houses in Abuja.

Managing Director of thebank, Mr Gimba Ya’u Kumo,told the News Agency ofNigeria (NAN) in Lagos, thatthe amount was invested toassist workers to buy the non-essential residential FederalGovernment houses in Abuja.

He said that the houseswere financed by Mortgage-Backed Bonds (MBB).“FMBN arranged the MBB aspart of its capital marketoperations, with the support ofthe Federal Ministry ofFinance. The amount helpedabout 13,750 workers in theFCT to buy and own theirhouses in Abuja. The firstseries of the MBB was floatedin 2006. Then, the second andthird series were done in2012,” he said.

Ya’u Kumo said the bank hadembarked on a ministerialhousing pilot project, todeliver affordable houses forNigerian workers, incollaboration with the FederalMinistry of Lands, Housingand Urban Development. He

ICM rewards loyalcustomers withValentine dinner

Ikeja Shopping Mall, ICMhas decided to give life to

lovers and couples this season,as it hosts loyal customers whohave bought goods worth theamount N25,000 and above witha Candle light dinner for couplesat Bheerhugs.

As the valentine day is in theair many have put in one planor the other to make the day withtheir loved ones. Kunle Olukoju,representative, management ofIkeja City Mall, said the promohas been running from February1, 2014 as a way to get the mindsof people ready for this year’svalentine. The ten lucky couplesfor the candle light dinner whowere finally picked from the raffledraw were contacted to come withtheir loved ones to the dinnerwhich will commence from 4pmand end at 6pm on Friday 14th ofFebruary, which made up the firstphase of the promo.

Some of the winners whichwere picked from MontaignePlace, Tru Worth, SamsongExperience Store and LG,expressed their gratitude toShoprite as they expect to havean interesting and wonderfulexperience during the dinner atBheer Hugs.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014 — 21

Business & Economy

VISIT - From left:Regional Director, Maghreb & West Africa MoneyGram, Francois Peyret;Head Retail Banking, UBA, Olumide Osunyomi; Vice President, Africa MoneyGram,HerveChomel; Executive Director, UBA, Emeke Iweriebor; Carl Olav-Schiebel, Executive VicePresident, Europe, Africa & Emerging Channels MoneyGram and Neil Edwards, Vice PresidentFinance - Europe & Africa MoneyGram during a courtesy visit to UBA Headoffice byMoneyGram Officials.

THE United NationsI n d u s t r i a lD e v e l o p m e n t

Organisation, UNIDO, hassaid the designated six StapleCrop Processing Zones,SCPZs, across the country willgulp an estimated cost of over$1.063million forinfrastructure and relateddevelopment.

This was disclosed by theCountry Director, UNIDO,Nigeria, Mr. PatrickKormarwa at a one daytechnical workshop oninfrastructural needs of StapleCrop Processing Zones,SCPZs, organised by theFederal Ministry ofAgriculture and RuralDevelopment. Representedby Dr. Chukwuma Ezedinma,while presenting the SCPZmaster plan for infrastructureat Alape, Kogi State andGafan/Bunkure, Kano State,Kormarwa said, “What we aredoing is really revolutionaryand it has a national mandate,and I want to make apresentation on infrastructurecost. The federal governmenthas asked UNIDO to developa master plan for six sites.

“The sites focus on specificsize of commodities and weadvised the government tosay, 'you cannot focus on oneor two sizes of commodities'rather, you should diversifythe commodities. So, we arenow looking beyond cassavaand rice, those are the focaland major commodities.”

“The most importantobjective of this meeting is toprovide globally competitiveindustrial, environmental,social infrastructure that canboost companies and talentsand that is basically what theStaple Crop Processing Zoneswill do.

“The six Staple CropProcessing Zones in themaster plan whereinfrastructures will beprovided includes Agbadu/Alape, Kogi State, for cassava;Gafan/Bunkure, Kano State,for rice, tomato, and sorghum.Others are, Adani, EnuguState for rice; Okorolo, RiversState, for fisheries; Ketu-Ereyun, Lagos State, for riceand fisheries, and Badeggi,Niger State, for rice.

An overview of theestimated cost is as

follows, SCPZ phase one $154.4 million; total cost ($274million); infrastructure cost,($527.6 million); connectivityinfrastructure, ($260.6million), all amounting to$1.063 million for the six

Six SCPZs to gulp $1.063m— UNIDOBy GABRIEL EWEPU Staple Crop Processing Zones.

“We have specialisedinfrastructure, supportinfrastructure, socialinfrastructure and basicinfrastructure-power, watersupply, street lighting andothers. Specialisedinfrastructure is related to eachcommodity and also eachspecific staple crop processingzone, and of course, in eachprocessing zone we havesupport structure likelaboratories, research centres,centres of excellence,procurement centres, and soon.

“There are three

infrastructures that we requirein each processing zone. First,we have the site in the zone,which will not be provided bygovernment because from thedesign, the private sector hasto do this, build the site, andthen collect money for thatpurpose or if government istaking it up then they have toprovide all of that.

“The second one is the agricinfrastructure which supportsthe zone and the catchmentarea, network of collectioncentres, pre-cooling andcooling, grading and packinghalls, storage halls, mobile pre-coolers, and others.

“While the third is externalinfrastructure, that is roadconnectivity, rail connectivity,air and sea port connectivity,external power linkages,external water supply sourcelinkage, and others.

However, in an addressdelivered by the PermanentSecretary, Mrs. IbukunOdusote, represented byDirector Special Duties, Dr.Chudi Nwandu, at theworkshop, she said the conceptand implementation of theSCPZ was for developmentpartners and government tobrainstorm and ensure itssmooth take-off.

As part of efforts to ensure optimalrevenue yield, the Federal Inland

Revenue Service, FIRS, has advanced it taxsystem to ensure multinationals andenterprises operating in the country payappropriate taxes.

The Acting Executive Chairman of FIRS,Alhaji Kabir Mashi, at the opening of astakeholders’ engagement on Filing ofTransfer Pricing (TP) Returns in Lagos, saidthe regime will help the agency to fight taxevasion that are embedded in “under-pricing” of controlled transactions betweenassociated enterprises.

Transfer pricing generally involves settingappropriate prices for goods, services, assets,intellectual properties, loans, guaranteessupplied or transferred by one enterprise toanother, both of them being members of thesame group or otherwise connected.

Mashi said that transfer pricing wouldreduce the issues associated with doubletaxation, provide taxable persons withcertainty and a level playing field between

FIRS advances appropriate taxation formultinationals, enterprises

By FAVOUR NNABUGWU multinational enterprises and independententerprises doing business in Nigeria.

He said the programme was meant toexpose the various guidelines, forms anddocuments that would be used to file the TPreturns in line with the its regulations aswell as the relevant tax laws.

The chairman in a statement signed by MrEmmanuel Obate, Director, Communicationsand Liaison Department, added that Nigeriaadopted the regulations and commencedimplementation on transfer pricing in orderto address the problem associated withshifting profit among enterprises.

“These are laudable objectives, but it wouldnot by itself translate to a success story unlessthe regime is properly implemented. It isonly and only if we all play by the rule thatthe regime of transfer pricing in Niger couldreposition our beloved country to a path ofsustainable economic growth and rapiddevelopment. At the FIRS, our yearning isto implement the transfer pricing regimetransparently, efficiently and effectively inorder to promote voluntary compliance asenshrined in our mission statement.

FG approvesN3.6bn for agricmechanisation— minister

The Federal Governmenthas approved N3.6

billion to support theestablishment of AgriculturalEquipment Hiring Enterprise(AEHE) nationwide, AgricMinister Akinwunmi Adesina,has said. He said this at aninteractive session withmechanisation interventionpartners in Abuja.

Adesina, who wasrepresented by the PermanentSecretary in the ministry, MrsIbukun Odusote, saidmechanisation in an agrariancountry like Nigeria must betaken very seriously. Theminister said that theinitiative would enable thecountry to attain the desiredheight of putting agricultureat the fore front ofthe economy.

“To kick-start theimplementation of thisframework, I approved anintervention scheme to serveas a pilot with N3.6 billionreleased by the FederalMinistry of Agriculture andRural Development towardsfinancing the establishment ofthe Agricultural EquipmentHiring Enterprise (AEHE)."

Polo marketsGucci, D&G otherbrands

With KnownInternational fashion

brands in Nigeria now,marketed by Polo Avenue,Nigerians need not travel outto get their choice brand.

The international brands atdisplay at the newly openedPolo shop in Victoria Islandhas the best of product rangein brands of Gucci, JimmyChoo, Balenciaga, Dolce &Gabbana etc.

The interesting thing aboutthe brands is that they arecoming directly from thedesigners, says JenniferObayuwana, ExecutiveDirector, Polo Avenue duringthe opening of the shop inLagos. The range of productsinclude female bags,shoes,purses, travel bags etcas well as male products.

Like Obayuwana said:Nigerians will not need totravel to other parts of theworld to get the brands theylike most as this saves themthe hassle of traveling far toget what they want.

22 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014

Banking & Finance

LAUNCHING - From Left: Past President, Association of Bureaux De Change Operators ofNigeria (ABCON), Tifase James; Interim President, ABCON, Aminu Gwadabe; Deputy Director,Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Yemi Bedu; and Official of Nigerian Financial IntelligenceUnit (NAFIU), Abuja, Hanafi Baba-Ahmed, during the official launch of ABCON operationalmanual, logo and website, in Lagos.

Association of BureauxDe ChangeOperators of Nigeria

(ABCON) has introduced thethree initiatives to empowerbureaux de change (BDCs) toeffectively perform their roles.The initiatives are theOperation Manual andIdentification Logo forlicensed bureaux de change(BDCs) and the ABCONwebsite.

Speaking at the officiallaunching of the initiatives,ABCON President, AlhajiAminu Gwadabe said, “Theseinitiatives represent part ofthe efforts of ABCON toenhance capacity of membersand boost confidence of thepublic to do business withBDCs. The overall objectiveis to empower BDCs toeffectively play their roles inthe nation’s foreign exchangemarket, and in the economy.In ABCON we aredetermined to ensure weprovide quality services incompliance with regulations.”

He said that while theOperational Manual forBDCs was developed anddesigned to address theincreasing need for trainingand retraining of the growingpopulation of BDC operators,the Identification Logo isdesigned to address the needto distinguish between BDCsand illegal currency hawkersreferred to as black market

ABCON empowers BDCswith operational manual,identification logoBy BABAJIDEKOMOLAFE

operators. He said, “Thoughthe Association as mentionedearlier organises trainingfrom time to time, we realisethe need to complement theseefforts with a document thatcan provide basicunderstanding andinformation about operationsof BDCs, regulatoryrequirement and code of

conducts for operators. Suchis also necessary forimmediate training of newstaff by each BDCs.Consequently, ABCONdesigned and developed theOperation Manual for BDCs.The Manual is a concise andcomprehensive informationand explanation of everyaspect of the BDC business,

in compliance with CBNguidelines. It has fourteen(14) chapters and twelve (12)appendixes.

“We also realise that thereare a lot of people who wantto ignorantly patronise illegalcurrency traders thinking theyare patronising BDCs. Toaddress this challenge,ABCON has designed anddeveloped anIDENTIFICATION LOGO forBDCs across the country.

The purpose is to helpmembers of the public

indentify location of licensedBDCs, and hence avoidpatronising illegal currencytraders. Also, the inclusion ofABCON’s CustomerComplaint Desk phonenumbers and email addressesprovides further confidence tothe public in their transactionswith BDCs, knowing they canalso report the BDC toABCON if their expectation isnot satisfied.”

Also speaking at the launch,Mr. Yomi Bedu, DeputyDirector, Other FinancialInstitutions SupervisionDepartment, CBN,commended ABCON fordeveloping the Manual. Hesaid, “The Manual willensure that BDCs continue toadhere, learn all the details ofthe CBN guidelines so thatyou will keep within the limitsof what you are supposed todo. We are happy that goingforward you are going to havea logo, and that will assistmembers of the public todistinguish between licensedoperators and illegaloperators”.

First Bank of Nigeria Plc has enteredinto partnership with Invest Hong

Kong to provide investment opportunitiesfor Nigerian investors willing to invest inthe Chinese city.

Invest Hong Kong is a governmentagency charged with responsibility ofattracting international investors into theHong Kong economy.

Announcing the partnership during aFirst Bank, Invest Hong Kong meetingheld in Lagos, Group Head, GroupInstitutional Banking, First bank, Mrs.Basirat Odunewu said that, Invest HongKong are in Nigeria to help Nigerians tomake better decisions, and get a betterknowledge of the investmentopportunities available in Hong Kong forNigerians willing to invest in the country.She said that First Bank is entering intothe partnership to help the country whereit is also operating a business to expandthe investment inflows into the country.

According to her, “For us as First Bank,

First Bank partners Invest HongKong on business opportunities

By JONAH NWOKPOKUwe have a rep office in Beijing, China andwe want to partner with them so that at leastsome of our customers who want to investin China would know where exactly whereto put their money, and that is typical ofwhat First Bank does. I think thisopportunity is a two-way thing and for theNigerian economy, you know we have lotsof Chinese businesses in Nigeria, so peoplecan go to Hong Kong, make investmentsand still come back to Nigeria to helpdevelop the economy.”

Speaking on the comparative advantageof the Hong Kong economy and investmentopportunities that Nigerian businesses cantake advantage of, the Director General,Investment Promotions, Invest Honk Kong,Simon Galpin said that, Hong Kong’slocation is one of its greatest economicstrength, as many companies use HongKong as stepping stone to go global. Heidentified Greater Pearl River Delta as oneof the greatest destination for favourableinvestment in Hong Kong, where investorscan start from, as people who wants to dobusiness in China cannot target the entirecountry all at once."

FCMB, MoneyGramSign Agreement onMoney Transfer

Monument Bank(FCMB) Limited and

MoneyGram International haveentered into a businessrelationship to offer moneytransfer at all FCMB branches.

The agreement, which wassigned on Monday, February10, 2014, makes FCMB anagent of MoneyGram forinternational money transferbusiness in Nigeria. Thedevelopment means thatNigerians and others canreceive money sent to themfrom any part of the worldthrough the over 270 FCMBbranches nationwide.Nigerians in the diaspora canuse this service to quickly sendmoney to their loved ones herein Nigeria using a variety ofinnovative solutions which willbe released very soon. TheBank will roll-out theMoneyGram services across allits branches nationwide in thenext few weeks.

Speaking at the ceremony,FCMB’s Executive Director,Lagos & South-West, Mr.Olufemi Bakre, explained thatthe Bank’s decision to partnerwith MoneyGram is aimed atpromoting financial inclusionand enhancing customerexperience. He stated that thedevelopment would help theBank, ‘’to further connect withall classes of the Nigeriansociety by bringing financialservices closer to them”.

Skye Bank Powersbiometric/ElectronicPayroll System forKogi State

In order to promoteefficiency and prevent

fraud in its salaryadministration, the Kogi StateGovernment has entered intoa partnership with Skye BankPlc in the area of biometricsdata capture and electronicpayroll system for all civilservants in the state. Flaggingoff the exercise in Lokoja, theKogi State capital onWednesday, the StateGovernor, Captain Idris Wada,said the data capturingexercise had becomenecessary in view of thealarming increase in wage billof the state following theimplementation of theminimum wage.

Wada clarified that theexercise was not aimed atretrenching civil servants buttargeted at ensuring that staffremuneration were centrallyco-ordinated for efficiency insalary payment.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014 — 23

Banking & Finance

Enterprise BankEnterprise BankEnterprise BankEnterprise BankEnterprise Bankreassuresreassuresreassuresreassuresreassurescuscuscuscuscustttttomeromeromeromeromers ons ons ons ons oncashless policycashless policycashless policycashless policycashless policy

As the cashless policyintroduced by the Central

Bank of Nigeria (CBN) entersits second year ofimplementation, EnterpriseBank Limited at the weekendreassured her customers of animproved service as theymake use of the bank’selectronic transactionalsystems across the nation.

To that effect, a statementfrom the CorporateCommunications Departmentof the bank added thatEnterprise Bank has alsoensured that those that willpatronise the differentplatforms and channelsthrough which the bankserves the public willcontinue to enjoy seamlessbanking services, especiallynow that the bank has fullystrengthened its ATMs, POSterminals, Mobile andInternet Banking servicesacross the various outlets inthe country.

Diamond Banklaunches SWAGaccount at NUGAgames

Diamond Bank haslaunched the Diamond

S.W.A.G Account at theObafemi Awolowo University(OAU), Ile-Ife, venue of thisyear ’s on-going NationalUniversities GamesAssociation (NUGA) games.S.W.A.G, an acronym for‘Student With A Goal’ is anewly designed propositiontargeted at helping Nigerianyouths achieve their financialgoals with the right support.

Diamond Bank is the LeadSponsor of this year’s NUGAGames, the 24th edition.

According to Mr. VictorNwagwu, Head, Youths andSchool Banking Propositions,Diamond Bank, who doublesas co-ordinator for theDiamond Center at theNUGA Games, early signsshow that students are excitedabout the S.W.A.G Account.

He said, “In just two hoursthat we started operationshere at the NUGA, we haverecorded over a hundredaccounts opened and fundedand more are expected beforethe close of work as many ofthe students are makingefforts to conclude with theaccount openingrequirements.

THE amount of idle cash(liquidity) in the

interbank money market fellby 163 per cent last week,causing cost of funds to riseby 28 per cent.

Meanwhile the nation’sexternal reserves maintaineddownward trend last week,falling to $41.9 billion as atThursday from $42.5 billionthe previous week.

Vanguard investigationrevealed that interbankmarket liquidity fell from toN232 billion last week fromN612 billion the previousweek. The sharp decline wasprompted by outflow throughFGN Bonds and TreasuryBills purchases. Thedevelopment however,caused cost of funds to risein the market by 28 percent(or 300 basis points).According to the interbanknewsletter of KakawaDiscount House, interest rateon Open Buy Back (OBB) orCollateralised lending andOvernight lending rose to13.5 percent from 10.5percent.

Also reflecting the declinein market liquidity, demandfor government securities fellto 88 percent from 146percent the previous week.Result of trading ingovernment securities(treasury bills) show that totalpublic subscription (demand)stood at N177.63 billion,

Cost of funds up 28% asinterbank liquidity plunges

representing 88 per cent ofthe N200 billion worth of billsoffered by the Central Bank ofNigeria (CBN). The apex banksold N126 billion and repaidN127.61 billion worth ofmatured bills.

But the N90 billion worth ofFGN Bonds offered by theDebt Management Office(DMO) recorded 205 percentsubscription, as public

subscription stood at N185billion.

In the foreign exchangemarket, the naira appreciatedin the interbank segmentdespite 23.2 percent declinein foreign exchange sold bythe CBN at the Retail DutchAuction System (RDAS)sessions. From N163.40 perdollar, interbank exchangerate fell to N162.18 per dollar,

implying 122 koboappreciation for the naira.The naira however remainedstable at N155.75 per dollarat the official segment. Resultof the RDAS auctions for lastweek showed that the apexbank sold $596.71 million,representing 23.2 percentdecline from N777.9 millionsold the previous week.Cumulatively, the CBN hassold $4.3 billion this year atthe RDAS bi-weekly auction.

LAUNCH: From left: Mr. Gunther Mull, Managing Director, DERMALOG Identification; Dr.Kingsley Moghalu, CBN Deputy Governor, Operations; Mr. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Governorof Central Bank of Nigeria; and Mr. Godwin Emefiele, MD/CEO of Zenith Bank Plc andChairman, Bankers’ Committee Sub-Committee on Biometric Project at the launch of theBank Verification Number (BVN) for the financial industry held in Lagos Friday.

BY AHMED IBRAHIM

Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN), Mallam Lamido Sanusi

has said that no charge will beimposed on bank customers to obtainnewly introduced biometricidentification number.

He said this while addressingjournalists at the launching of theBiometric Identification Number(BIN) for bank customers at theCBN's Lagos office.

He said that the decision to embarkon biometric verification of banks’customers was taken as part of effortsto reform the banking sector, addingthat with biometric verificationnumber, customers would beprotected from money laundering

Bank customers won't be charged forbiometric ID number — SANUSI

and theft. He added that within thenext 18 months, the banks will startissuing card to customers. He notedthat CBN have taken necessarymeasures to ensure that the exerciseis convenient for customers bymaking it possible for them toregister at any branch of their bank.

Sanusi said, “This is the majordevelopment in the banking sectorthat will protect customers frommoney laundering and theft. It is aunique customer’s identity card. Theissue is that every Nigerian bank willhave access to the identity card. Youhave a data. Every Nigerian bankhas a data. Every micro-finance andevery financial institution will alsohave access to the card. Banks willissue a notice to the existing

customers and everybody has to comeout and register. As soon as the banksget this directive from CBN they willstart registering customers.

“You can go to any bank to registerand it will notify if you haveregistered and once you haveregistered, you can’t register againbecause the identification will showthat you have registered. No one canclaim your identity. We are notissuing any charges for theregistrations. Soon the banks willgive a notice to customers forregistrations. They can come to thecentral bank and register allcustomers at the central bank, itinvolves everybody. You can registeranywhere. So you can go to any bankor any agent and register.

By BABAJIDEKOMOLAFE

•External reserves down, now $41.9bn

24 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014

Corporate Finance

The recent closure ofthe offices of the NewNation, an illegal

operator in the NigerianCapital market by theSecurities and ExchangeCommission, SEC is not onlycommendable but shouldserve as a deterrent to otherswho are in the business ofcheating people.

Also, the SEC had recentlyclamped down on SterlingRegistrar, a subsidiary ofSterling Bank Plc over sharescam and manipulation ofshare allotment of Japaul Oil& Maritime Services Plc .Consequently, its license wasrevoked and penaltiesimposed on the officersinvolved.

The SEC, in its determinationto protect investors in themarket took the bold step torevoke the license of SterlingRegistrar. It also closed downthe offices of New Nationnationwide to prevent innocentinvestors from falling prey toa company that was notregistered with thecommission and performedillegal fund manager services.

The Acting Director,Enforcement Unit of SEC, Mr.Eric Elujekor, described theorganization as an illegal fundmanager that is not registeredwith the SEC but existed withthe sole aim of deceiving thepublic. He disclosed that theSEC had previously sealed offsome offices of the company inPort Harcourt, Kaduna andSokoto States in the past.

According to Elujekor, “It isa company that has so manyoffices. When we gotknowledge of what they saythey want to do, we invited theperson in charge to tell uswhat he was doing. He camehere and told us that he had21 pillars, that was the term heused. And those pillarsrepresented a project that theyintended to do and all thepillars were under aconglomerate they called NewNation.

“What he said is that at theend of the day when they areable to get people to participatein these pillars, Nigeria will bea New Nation. All the pillarsare operating under differentnames like Women in oil whichis a limited liability company onits own, another is called GlobalDefender which is a limitedliability company . We haveGrey and Strong which is alsoa limited liability company”.

Speaking further, he said the

,,

Lessons for illegal operatorsBy PETER EGWUATU

exercise was carried out toensure that no activity wouldtake place in their premisesagain and to as a point of factinform the general public tobe wary of suchorganizations.

Investigations revealed thatthe company had many officesin almost all the states ofNigeria and that was why theDirector General,ArunmaOteh directed that all theoffices be sealed off.

The Director said whenSEC got wind of the

activities of the company, itinvited the person in chargeto tell the commission whathe was doing. “He came hereand told us that he had 21pillars and that was the termhe used. And those pillarsrepresent a project that theyintend to do and all thesepillars are under aconglomerate they calledNew Nation. They have 21pillars under this New Nationoutit. What he said is that atthe end of the day when theyare able to get people toparticipate in these pillars,

Nigeria will be a NewNation” he said.

What prompted SEC totake action

There was a newspaperreport credited to thePresidential Spokesperson,Reuben Abati that PresidentJonathan has not approvedany scheme for theadvancement of women in oil.It was a scam and the peoplewere just using the name ofthe President. That was whenthe commission went out toinvestigate the activities of thecompany. Elujekor disclosedthat by the time officials of thecommission got theirbrochure, they admitted thatwomen could register toparticipate in the oil sector ofthe economy and they wererequired to pay N12, 000 andmore. “We sought to find outwhat the money was all about.Is it an investment? So ifpeople are paying thatamount, are they nowmembers of this company?What is this all about?Because apart from this, N12,000 they are supposed toregister again. To register isN3, 000 before you pay theN12, 000. We didn't not knowwhat this collecting moneyfrom people is for," Elujekorsaid.

He further said that inNovember when officials of thecommission went to PortHarcourt, one of thesignatories who is the motherof the Managing Director ofthe company said they werenot collecting N12, 000 butreduced it to N8, 000 whichwas for training and notinvestment.

How SEC arrested NewNation Officials

In Lagos, Pamela Obioru,

SEC’s Assistant Director andleader of the enforcement team,described the activities of NewNation Finance House asillegal.

Ms. Obioru said that 14 of thecompany’s officials had alsobeen arrested by the police. Shesaid the action was part ofSEC’s statutory responsibilitiesof regulating the capital marketand protecting investors. Theofficial said that the enforcementexercise was necessary toprotect innocent investors fromfalling into wrong investmentschemes. “It is one of theroutine exercises of thecommission to clamp down onillegal investment operators inthe country,” she stated. Ms.Obioru said that Section 153 ofthe Investment and SecuritiesAct (ISA) prescribed thatoperators of such firms mustobtain license and file returnsto the commission.

In Bauchi, BalaMohammed, SEC’s

enforcement leader, said thenationwide clampdownfollowed complaints from theinvesting public.”We receivedintelligent reports about twomonths ago that a companycalled New Nation wasinvolved in some dubiousfinancial transactions.

“It was gathered that thecompany receives money frominvestors with promises of highreturns oninvestment.”Immediately, weswooped into action and carriedout surveillance “We discoveredthat the company had branchesin the 36 state of the federation,including the FCT,

How Nigerians fall for theirtricks

Elujekor believes thatNigerians still fall for the tricksof these operators because theyare too gullible and everyonewants quick money.

He said that the fact thattimes are hard does not helpmatters as when somebody istold that his money can bedoubled in six months, he findsit difficult to resist it because heactually needs the money toattend to one or two things.

Alani Falade, leader of SECenforcement team in Akure,advised the investing public tobe wary of investmentopportunities that looked “toogood to be real.”

What happens nextElujekor disclosed that the

intention of the exercise is toensure that the offices orpremises would be sealed offand no activity would take placethere and to actually inform thegeneral public that they shouldstop patronizing the company.

•Director General, SEC, Arunma Oteh

Nigeria stocks,bonds suffersell-off

Nigerian stocks andbond prices fell last

week as foreign investorssold off frontier assets, forcingthe Central Bank of Nigeria,CBN to intervene to prop upthe naira after it fell to an all-time intraday low, its deputygovernor said.

The stock index closeddown 2.24 percent at a 7-week low of 39,378 points onThursday while the country’sshortest maturity bond yieldspiked 10 basis points.

The naira, which has lostmore than 3 percent of itsvalue this year, fell to a recordlow of 167 against the dollar,closing at 163.05 to the dollarafter the intervention.

“We have the capacity todefend the currency and wewill defend it,” central bankdeputy governor Sarah Aladetold Reuters by telephone.“Most of the demand reallyis speculation ... We movedto assure the market.”

Dealers said rumours of acentral bank emergencymeeting and by NigerianPresident GoodluckJonathan’s sacking of fourgovernment ministers lastweek had sparked nairaselling.

Africa races tobuild sovereignfunds

Resource-rich Africancountries are busy

setting up sovereign wealthfunds, but critics say thefunds may not serve the long-term interests of poorcountries that still need toinvest in basics such asschools and roads.

Three oil producers,Angola, Ghana and Nigeria,started funds in the last twoyears. Before them, onlyBotswana, Gabon andEquatorial Guinea had suchschemes. Other countries arefollowing. Zambia andLiberia announced plans forfunds last month. Tanzania,Kenya, Uganda, Mauritius,Mozambique and Zimbabwehave similar intentions.

The funds can serve usefulpurposes, analysts say.Commodity earnings can besplit into one fund forinfrastructure and another forsavings that can be used ascollateral for even biggeramounts.

“Africa needs highersavings,” said Razia Khan,the head of Africa research atStandard Chartered Bank.

Nigerians stillfall for the

tricks of theseoperators

because theyare too gullibleand everyonewants quick

money.

CLAMPDOWN ON NEW NATION:

26

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CMYK

Sim Capital Alliance Plc 103.50 103.50 103.50 103.50 10.56 9.71Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc 19.00 19.05 4,066,311 15.69 10.64 0.87 18.03UBA Capital Plc 2.28 2.28 13,012,451 1.41 0.03 0.21 6.71

HEALTHCAREMedical SuppliesMorison Industries Plc 1.91 1.91 2,000 10.54 9.52 0.00 0.00Healthcare ProvidersUnion Diagnostics & Clinicals Services 0.50 0.50 387,550 0.50 0.50 0.00 0.00

PharmaceuticalsEkocorp Plc 3.72 3.51 5,000 5.31 5.31 88.50Evans Medical Plc 2.98 2.98 38,000 1.45 0.70 0.19 0.00Fidson Healthcare Plc 2.90 2.94 877,045 3.20 0.83 0.44 3.07Glaxo Smithkline Consumer Nig 69.00 69.00 79,100 23.11 2.58 2.62May & Baker Nigeria Plc 2.21 2.10 317,041 5.61 3.61 0.20 9.05Neimeth International Pharm 1.83 1.74 994,586 1.96 0.95 0.09 14.13Nigeria-German Chemicals Plc 7.36 7.36 2,195 12.91 0.95 0.00 0.00Pharma-Deko Plc 1.60 1.85 4,500 200 4.28 0.00 0.00

ICTComputer Based SystemsCourteville Investment Plc 0.81 0.81 1,000 0.52 0.50 0.10 10.00

Computers and PeripheralsOmatek Ventures Plc 0.50 0.50 80,000 0.50 0.50 0.00 12.50

IT ServicesNCR (Nig) Plc 16.83 16.83 598 9.31 3.25 0.00 1.43Tripple Gee and Company Plc 2.07 2.07 360 3.59 3.25 0.01 0.00Processing SystemsChams Plc 0.50 0.50 102,000 50,000

ICTTelecommunicationsStarcomms Plc 0.50 0.50 4,000 1.47 0.50 0.00 0.00

INDUSTRIAL GOODSBuilding MaterialsAshaka Cement Plc 17.99 17.97 293,045 30.00 12.00 2.14 7.86Berger Paints Plc 9.84 9.90 530,642 12.57 8.10 1.09 4.97CAP Plc 47.10 47.10 60,072 43.98 15.16 2.28 8.88Cement Co. of Northern Nig. Plc 9.52 9.05 932,196 15.49 4.16 1.47 2.31Dangote Cement Plc 235.00 234.70 1,018,539 132.51 95.00 7.56 13.17First Aluminium Nigeria Plc 0.50 0.50 100,000 0.75 0.50 0.00 0.00DN Meyer Plc 1.42 1.42 74 3.51 1.02 0.00 0.00Lafarge WAPCO Plc 107.00 107.00 360,486 48.05 36.58 4.10 42.86Portland Paints & Products Nig Plc 5.79 5.51 386,710 5.28 5.11 0.44 14.19Paints & Coatings Manufacturers 2.00 2.0 300 3.36 0.51 0.23 2.89Premier Paints Plc 10.00 11.00 123,564 13.40 10.93 0.00 0.00

Packaging/ContainersAvon Crowncaps & Container 1.63 1.63 7,009 6.91 5.94 0.5 39.60Nigerian Bags Manufacturing Company 2.74 2.70 2,717,101 3.60 1.47 0.25 9.16

Tools and MachineryNigerian Ropes Plc 7.85 7.85 40 8.69 8.26 0.00 0.00

NATURAL RESOURCESChemicalsBOC Gases Plc 6.66 6.66 1,000 9.20 6.80 0.78 7.37

MetalsAluminium Extrusion Ind Plc 7.75 10.50 500 12.39 10.70 0.13 85.77

Non-Metalic Mineral MiningMultiverse Plc 0.50 0.50 3,000 0.50 0.50 0.01 0.00

Paper/Forest ProductsThomas Wyatt Nig. Plc 0.83 0.83 1,000 1.38 1.38 0.00 0.00

Electronic and Electrical ProductsCutix Plc 2.10 1.97 381,363 2.50 1.62 0.11 13.15Nigerian Wire & Cable Plc 0.50 0.50 840 2.58 2.58 0.00 0.00

Mortgage Carriers, Brokers and SeAbbey Building Society Plc 1.44 1.44 2,000 1.51 1.33 0.03 28.80INDUSTRIAL GOODSPackaging/ContainersAbplast Products Plc 3.98 3.98 6,888 3.98 3.98 0.00 0.00Beta Glass Co. Plc 20.39 20.39 17,416 15.58 12.71 3.90 3.26Greif Nigeria Plc 12.68 12.68 150 15.03 13.97 0.90 0.00Nampak Nigeria Plc 4.30 4.30 29,198 4.30 3.60 1.22 3.52Poly Products (Nig) Plc 1.05 1.05 200 1.86 1.05 0.30 6.18Studio Press (Nig) Plc 2.92 2.78 84,311 2.92 2.92 0.07 41.71W.A. Glass Ind. Plc 0.63 0.66 2,749,340 0.63 0.63 0.00 0.00

OIL AND GASEnergy Equipment and ServicesJapaul Oil & Maritime Service 0.55 0.57 9,176,256 0.97 0.87 0.19 6.06

Intergrated Oil and Gas ServicesOando Plc 20.24 18.20 8,273,024 78.97 27.99 1.73 4.17

Petroleum and Petroleum ProductsAfrican Petroleum Plc 20.50 20.50 82,191 37.10 0.50 4.93 7.40Beco Petroleum Plc 0.50 0.50 10,000 0.70 0.50 0.00 0.00Conoil 50.00 51.70 312,058 5.59 3.89 0.61 6.99Forte Oil Nig Plc 100.00 95.00 340,200Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc 125.00 125.00 234,882 163.50 141.00 6.11 11.11MRS Oil Nigeria Plc 54.44 54.44 400 2,100 63.86 2.98 19.23Total Nigeria Plc 175.00 179.99 46,527 240.00 195.50 14.63 17.07

HospitalityTantalisers Plc 0.50 0.50 300 200 0.01

SERVICESAfromedia Plc 0.50 0.50 100 0.72 0.51 0.00 12.75Automobile/Auto Part RetailersRT Briscoe Plc 1.30 1.31 873,967 3.65 1.30 0.21 8.19

Courier/Freight/DeliveryRed Star Express Plc 4.58 4.50 106,317 3.67 2.65 0.60 4.91Trans-National 2.55 2.55 44,200 0.25 11.12Employment SolutionsC & I LEASING PLC 0.53 0.54 5,969,600 1.64 0.90 0.04 11.25

Hotels/LodgingCapital Hotel 4.55 4.55 100 400 3.00 0.34 34.09Ikeja Hotel Plc 0.74 0.74 6,600 2.07 1.33 0.92 2.12

Media/EntertainmentDaar Communications Plc 0.50 0.50 10,000 0.50 0.48 0.00 0.00

Printing & Publishing.Academy Press Plc 2.43 2.43 1,000 3.68 3.17 0.25 12.19Learn Africa Plc 1.80 1.80 26,515 0.30Studio Press Nig. Plc 2.52 2.52 24,120 0.00 0.00University Press 4.20 3.99 525,669 6.82 3.60 0.54 27.69

Road TransportationAssociated Bus Company Plc 0.92 0.92 12,900 0.80 0.50 0.00 0.00

SpecialityInterlinked Technologies Plc 4.90 4.90 1,050 5.15 4.90 0.00 0.00

Transport-Related ServicesAirline Services and Logistics Plc 3.00 2.85 167.004 2.78 1.57 0.60 4.22Nigerian Aviation Handling Company 5.61 5.33 204,815 11.75 6.50 12.53 8.75

Opening Closing Quantity Year Year P.EPrice N Price N Traded High Low E.P.S Ratio

Oil and Gas and ProductsPetroleum Prod ucts

Capital Oil Plc 0.50 0.50 1,000 0.50 0.50 0.09

1st fTier SecuritiesAGRICULTURECrop ProductionFTN Cocoa Processors Plc 0.50 0.50 105,000 0.50 0.50 0.10 50.00Okomu Oil Palm Plc 40.61 40.61 286,938 24.58 14.53 7.33 2.77Presco Plc 46.06 43.76 185,300 8.30 6.40 2.75 4.37

Livestock/Animal SpecialitiesLivestock Feeds Plc 3.90 4.09 1,122,050 0.66 0.48 0.11 15.00

CONGLOMERATESDiversified IndustriesA.G. Levents Nigeria Plc 1.75 1.75 300 2.54 1.45 0.16 5.18Chellarams Plc 3.95 3.95 4,500 7.60 6.43 0.31 20.74John Holt Plc 1.40 1.40 89,500 8.82 5.89 0.00 0.00SCOA Nigeria Plc 5.32 5.32 208 8.28 5.52 0.35 15.77Transnational Corporation 3.94 3.79 37,796,816 1.82 0.50 0.24 3.64UACN Plc 69.10 69.10 227,999 42.50 28.70 6.89 4.14

CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATEBuilding Construction/StructureARBICO Plc 5.30 5.30 31,443 4 20Constain (WA) Plc 1.99 2.00 3,288,813 2,720,390.38

CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATENon-Building/Heavy ConstructionJulius Berger Nig Plc 75.00 75.00 4,850 62.26 32.96 4.11 10.11Roads Nigeria Plc 8.46 8.46 42,564 8.28 3.01 4.73 2.26

Real Estate DevelopmentUACN Property Development 20.00 19.75 668,228 20.15 11.59 1.69 7.33

Real Estate Investment TrustsSkye Shelter Funds 100.00 100.00 200 100.00 97.00 11.75 8.51Union Homes Real Estate Investment 50.00 50.00 - - - - -

CONSUMER GOODSAutomobile/Auto PartsDN Tyres & Rubber Plc 0.50 0.50 8,900 0.50 0.50 0.00 0.00

Beverages-Brewers/DistillersChampion Breweries Plc 15.27 14.51 4,625 4.63 2.23 0.00 0.00Guinness Nigeria Plc 212.00 201.42 472,426 255.00 186.00 9.95 19.98International Breweries Plc 27.93 26.62 1,366,299 7.10 5.23 0.41 16.29Nigerian Brew Plc 145.50 142.00 2,574,998 100.00 72.50 5.08 22.22Premier Breweries Plc 0.77 0.77 10,000 1.01 0.93 0.00 0.00

Beverages-Non-Alcoholic7-UP Bottling Company Plc 82.64 82.64 26,715 51.49 ,39.00 2.69 13.92

Food ProductsDangote Flour Mills Plc 9.55 9.50 358,461 19.90 4.31 0.00 16.91Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc 11.40 11.13 1,883,970 16.20 4.02 0.91 14.38Flour Mills Nigeria Plc 87.00 83.25 492,461 95.00 57.00 4.09 16.89Honeywell Flour Mill Plc 3.72 3.70 1,046,748 6.60 2.31 0.39 16.92National Salt Co. Nig Plc 13.00 13.00 157,854 6.70 3.80 1.01 5.75UTC Nigeria Plc 0.61 0.60 164,120 0.88 0.50 1.13 8.83

Food Products-- DiversifiedCadbury Nigeria Plc 60.68 60.88 262,805 37.27 8.33 1.35 27.61Nestle Nigeria Plc 1,102.00 1,100.06 462,762 840.10 400.00 25.43 32.84

Household DurablesNigerian Enamelware Plc 32.27 32.27 60 36.19 33.96 13.89 2.44Vitafoam Nig. Plc 4.66 5.00 1,888,480 5.54 2.91 0.61 7.07Vono Products Plc 1.66 1.66 6,000 2.88 2.88 0.00 0.00

Personal/Household ProductsPZ Cussons Nigeria Plc 37.00 37.00 79,346 41.02 21.02 0.82 4.39Unilever Nigeria Plc 54.00 54.00 54,549 47.39 27.60 1.44 32.91

FINANCIAL SERVICESBankingAccess Bank Plc 8.22 8.15 62,194,493 12.39 4.70 1.42 8.73Diamond Bank Nigeria Plc 6.18 6.16 1,334,121 7.51 1.92 0.90 8.34Ecobank Transnational Incorporated 14.50 14.00 3,107,766 14.04 9.90 2.81 5.00Fidelity Bank Plc 2.27 2.08 4,738,749 3.47 1.13 0.43 7.93First City Monument Bank Plc 4.75 4.75 865,336 5.70 2.90 0.00 0.00Guaranty Trust Bank Plc 26.03 24.73 28,607,226 26.09 13.02 2.10 12.39Skye Bank Plc 3.70 3.60 1,310,323 6.50 2.65 0.71 9.15Sterling Bank Plc 2.30 2.30 5,708,075 3.05 0.80 0.54 5.43UBA Plc 7.60 6.94 21,073,519 7.69 1.64 0.67 11.19Union Bank Nig. Plc 8.60 8.17 2,096,042 10.60 2.34 0.00 0.00Unity Bank Plc 0.50 0.50 669,000 1.22 0.50 0.00 0.00Wema Bank Plc 1.00 0.96 4,333,345 1.75 0.52 1.34 0.43Zenith Bank Plc 20.21 20.10 44,530,017 21.49 11.96 2.09 10.24

Insurance Carriers, Brokers and SectorAfrican Alliance Insurance 0.50 0.50 1,000 0.50 0.50 0.00 0.00AIICO Insurance Plc 0.89 0.85 4,218,859 1.11 0.50 0.50 22.20Continental Reinsurance Plc 1.10 1.10 2,509,039 1.03 0.58 0.14 6.79Cornerstone Insurance Company 0.50 0.50 432,615 0.54 0.50 0.02 27.30Consolidated Hallmark Insurance 0.50 0.50 100,500 0.50 0.50 0.50 10.00Custodian and Allied Insurance Plc 2.00 2.06 9,054,578 2.44 1.08 0.28 7.43Equity Assurance Plc 0.50 0.50 10 0.50 0.50 0.01 50.00Goldlink Insurance Plc 0.50 0.54 62,500 0.68 0.50 0.00 0.00Great (Nig) Insurance Plc 0.70 0.67 56,200 0.50 0.50 0.03 16.67Guinea Insurance Plc 0.50 0.50 1,200 0.50 0.50 0.01 50.00International Energy Insurance Plc 0.81 0.77 175,719 0.50 0.50 0.00 0.00Investment and Allied Assurance 0.50 0.50 1,670,890 0.50 0.50 0.02 25.00LASACO Assurance Plc 0.50 0.50 3,000 0.50 0.50 0.00 0.00Law Union & Rock Insurance Plc 0.50 0.50 100 0.60 0.50 0.00 0.00Linkage Assurance Plc 0.50 0.50 200 0.50 0.50 0.03 16.67Mansard Insurance Plc 2.30 2.20 236,078 2.59 1.06 0.16 16.19Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc 0.50 0.50 1,200 0.54 0.50 0.00 0.00NEM Insurance Co. (Nig) Ltd 0.76 0.79 35,656,663 0.81 0.50 0.37 2.19Niger Insurance Co. Plc 0.50 0.50 20,000 0.61 0.50 0.02 26.00OASIS Insurance Plc. 0.50 0.50 1,000 0.50 0.50 0.03 16.67Prestige Assurance Co. Plc 0.67 0.61 275,000 1.01 0.50 0.06 15.50Regency Alliance Insurance 0.50 0.50 100 0.50 0.50 0.04 12.50Sovereign Trust Insurance 0.50 0.50 200 0.56 0.50 0.09 5.65Staco Insurance Plc 0.50 0.50 200 0.50 0.50 0.00 0.00Standard Alliance Insurance 0.50 0.50 200 0.50 0.50 0.00 0.00UNIC Insurance Plc 0.50 0.50 7,464 0.50 0.50 0.00 0.00Unity Kapital Plc 0.50 0.50 160,000 0.50 0.50 0.02 25.00Universal Insurance Plc 0.50 0.50 15,000 0.50 0.50 0.00 0.00Wapic Insurance Plc 0.95 0.91 8,525,472 1.08 0.50 0.07 15.43

Microfinance BanksFortis Micro-Finance Bank Plc 6.60 6.60 4,100 6.00 0.00 0.04 150.00

NPF Micro-Finance Bank Plc 0.76 0.76 30,010 1.18 0.92 0.92 10.56Mortgage Carrier, Broker and SectorAbbey Building SOC 1.49 1.49 50 1.57 1.37 0.19 47.6 7Aso Savings and Loans Plc 0.50 0.50 50,000 0.50 0.50 0.02 25.00Resort Savings & Loans Plc 0.50 0.50 400,000 0.50 0.50 0.00 0.00Union Homes Savings Plc 0.50 0.50 45,994 0.50 0.50 0.00 0.00

Other Financial InstitutionsAfrica Prudential Plc 3.22 3.21 5,737,548 0.75 0.00 0.19 9.16Crusader (Nigeria) Plc 0.50 0.50 22,000 0.50 0.50 0.00 0.00Deap Capital Management & Trust Plc 0.99 0.99 100 2.02 2.02 0.00 0.00FBN Holdings Plc 13.49 13.11 21,093,646 20.00 8.57 2.03 9.85Nigeria Energy Sector Fund 552.20 552.20 100 552.20 12.68 43.55Royal Exchange Assurance 0.63 0.60 2,518,950 0.78 0.50 0.13 6.00

Opening ClosingPrice Price Quantity Year Year P.E.

Company (N) (N) Traded High Low E.P.S. Ratio

Capital Market Daily Stock Market Report as at Friday, February 14, 2014

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014 — 27

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Micro-FinanceCommodity index

THE Society ofW o m e n

Accountants of Nigerian(SWAN) held its annualluncheon and receptionin commemoration of 49th

President, Institute ofChartered Accountants ofNigeria (ICAN), AlhajiKabir Mohammed, in abirthday receptioncoupled with an annualluncheon.

Chairperson SWAN,Mrs. Onome Olaolu

THE DirectorG e n e r a l ,

Nigerian Securities andExchange Commission (DG, SEC) Ms. ArunmaOteh, has been scheduledto deliver a lecture at theWomen in Management,Business and PublicService (WIMBIZ) 2014Annual Lecture

The lecture billed forMarch 13, 2014, at theCivic Center, is themed:‘Repositioning for GlobalRelevance: Opportunitiesand Realities’.

WORKPLACE Centre Limited, acompany into development of

talent, has commissioned skillsacquisition centre intended to enhanceemployment of Nigerian graduates aswell as provide entrepreneurial skillstraining.

The facility has three training rooms,e-learning centre, executives trainingroom, with capacity to seat about sixtyindividuals.

In his keynote address, Professor ofEconomics, Webster University, Mr.Benjamin Akande, attributed the highlevel of unemployment in the countryto the over 600,000 students thatgraduate from tertiary institutionsannually without entrepreneurial skills.

He said, “That is the reason we are

yet to have a country of our dream.University degrees are necessary butnot sufficient. Graduates must haveentrepreneurial and social skills to beable to create what does not exist.

He pointed out that the coming workplace centre as an institution was longoverdue, saying, “the essence of thisinstitution is to empower, challenge andto raise Nigerian youths up in order tomake them better.”

Workplace centre has six departmentswith each segment aiming to bridge thegap that exists in the workplace. Thesections are the graduate workplaceskills acquisition, graduateentrepreneurial skills acquisition, HRoutsourcing and consulting servicessegment, executive capacity buildingservices, ICT skills development andE-learning centres.

Oteh speaks at WIMBIZ annual lecture

Stories by PROVIDENCE OBUH

WORKPLACE commissions learningcentre to boost entrepreneurial skill

President ofthe Institute ofCharteredAccountants ofNigeria(ICAN), AlhajiKabirMohammedreceiving a giftfromChairperson ofthe Society ofWomenAccountants ofNigeria(SWAN), Mrs.Onome Olaoluduring aluncheon/birthday partyheld in honourof Mohammedby SWAN

In a statement,WIMBIZ said that thelecture series attracts over350 women every yearand was established tostimulate discussion oftopical issues which affectwomen in their personal,professional andorganisational lives andtheir role as nationbuilders.

“The 2014 WIMBIZAnnual Lecture promisesto enrich attendees asOteh discusses keysuccess factors for stayingrelevant in a rapidly

changing world.Participants will beprovided new insight intokey strategies forleveraging globalopportunities amid localrealities.

“Beyond these, the 2014lecture presentsopportunity forparticipants to network,interact and shareexperiences with otherseasoned and successfulprofessionals inmanagement, businessand public service,”WIMBIZ said.

SWAN fetes ICAN bossdescribed the reception asa culture of the society tohost the seating presidentof the institute at itsannual programme.

Olaolu commended theinstitute for itscontribution to womenwith respect toaccountants.

In his remark,Mohammed highlightedthe importance of womenboth in the home and atwork, saying, “If you want

to to make it in life, yourmother and your family iskey. The prayer of amother to a child wouldbe answered by Godquickly. Women are thebiggest picture, they aremagnanimous.

“A lot has been saidabout my relationshipwith women but amongSWAN members are thepeople that shaped mylife,” he said.

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Homes & Housing Finance

GROHE Group is theworld’s leadingprovider of

premium bath faucets andshowers, kitchen mixers,thermostats and installationsystems, with consolidatedannual sales of •1.4 billion(Euro) in 2012. The Germancompany formally berthed inNigeria with publicpresentation of in Lagos, lastweek, to an audience thatincluded journalists,architects, home designers,fashionistas and interiordecorators.

In this interview, Mr. SimonG. Shaya, GROHE’sPresident for EastMediterranean, Middle East& Africa, said as a globalbrand for sanitary productsand systems, the companycannot afford to overlook theeconomic potential inNigeria, being one of thefastest growing economies inthe world. Excerpt.

Overall presence in AfricaWe started the first Africa/

Middle East operations inEgypt in 1973 and then inSouth Africa in 2001 andstarted operating informally inNigeria in 2011. Now we arein 18 locations across Africa.In Africa we have a total of 4regional hubs – Cairo,Johannesburg, Lagos andNairobi - for the north, south(SABC), east and the west butapart from that we have a lotof satellite offices – in capetown, Durban, morocco,Algeria, Tunisia with plans toestablish network of officeswithin Nigeria like Abujawhere a lot of projectsbusiness are now beingconducted.

Your vision for the Nigerianmarket

No doubt the pulse ofNigeria is here in Lagos.Nigeria means business andbusiness means Lagos. This isa commercial hub where wecannot afford but to be verysuccessful in the Lagos area.But Nigeria is a big countryas well. We have plenty ofcities that once the roll out isdone in Lagos we have to tapinto all the cities in Nigeria.

Any plan to start aproduction plant in Nigeria?

We didn’t come to Nigeriajust because we want toestablish one other sales point.We came because we arecommitted to this market and

Nigeria's economy too big to beignored — GROHE chief•Firm berths premium sanitary fittings in NigeriaBy YINKA KOLAWOLE

,

,we believe in the opportunityand the size of the economyis unbelievable. But if you askanybody who is intoproduction, he needs a certainvolume in order to make afactory up and running,profitable and ensure that thequality is sustainable, and youcan afford qualitymanagement andimprovement in yourprocesses.

So big tankers needvolume, volume you can

only achieve in big economieslike in Nigeria. If we want toestablish a successfulbusiness model in Nigeria,then contemplating intoposting production facilitybecomes as given, becauseyou need to produce whereyour largest markets are. This

is why we have a plant inThailand because it’s in thecentre of Asian business. Asat the time we set up Thailand,China was not really the hubbecause everything was moreor less around South-EastAsia and this is why at that timeThailand made sense.Hopefully one day, and verysoon , due to our success inNigeria we will contemplateposting another factorysomewhere here.

Challenges to doingbusiness in Nigeria

As a foreign companycoming into this country, wewould like to see a little bitmore business-friendlyatmosphere - less red tape,less bureaucracy, easy accessto importation, not bighassling documentation. AndI’ve seen in the last 4 yearsthat it is moving in the rightdirection, we would like to seea bit more acceleration andfocus in the process whichmakes it for internationalbrands quite logical to comeand invest here and grow theirbusiness.

Your plan to be competitiveamong other brands inNigeria

Nigerians are exposed to theoutside world, really active ondigital media, surfing onwebsite. It is a very youngand dynamic population. I

don’t see as a challenge for usto establish our brand.Nigerians love quality andspecifically in the past theyhave been exposed to not soquality products and that iswhy you see the affinity ofNigerians to shoppingworldwide. They go to thesuper brand shops, flagshipstores. And that is why webelieve bringing this brandrepresents a powerfulmessage which we believe willbe a successful story.

Plan to improve on the 14%sales generated in MiddleEast and Africa

My personal target,being responsible for

the region, is to grow it to 28percent. Seriously, we havearound African continentmassive opportunities, notonly in Nigeria but as well insurrounding West Africancountries. We have really goodeconomies developing - IvoryCoast, Ghana and all thesmall African countries willlook at the success in Nigeriaand like to copy the successinto their own countries. Thisis why I’m so excited aboutsuccess in Nigeria because itwill be a role model for all theneighbouring countries andwe have really plenty ofopportunities around Africanstates that they will really takewhat is happening in Nigeriaas a role model for theircountries. We should notunderestimate the power thatNigeria has in the region, inthe politics and economy

Biggest challenge in AfricaIt is a challenge as well as

excitement. You have multitudeof cultures, different viewsaround doing business anddifferent expectations from onearea to another. We needed toadapt a lot of ourcommunication to the localmarket and we still need to doa lot of that. And then thegeographical stretch isanother challenge becauseyou really fly for hours acrossAfrica and you are not,sometimes in terms ofresources, so flexible becauseyou need multitude of hubs inorder to provide services forall your partners in thismarket. Nevertheless, all ofthese are challenging butexciting because you feel thatyou are so close to thecommunity and you aredeveloping both thecommunities and yourcompany in the same way.

•Simon G. Shaya, President, GROHE, Africa, EastMediterranean &, Middle East.

We would liketo see a little bit

more business-friendlyatmosphere - lessred tape, lessbureaucracy, easyaccess toimportation, notbig hasslingdocumentation

‘NMRC will boosthousing delivery’

President, NigeriaInstitution of Estate

Surveyors and Valuers(NIESV), Mr. Emeka Eleh,said the establishment of theNigeria Mortgage RefinanceCompany (NMRC) will boosthousing delivery if effectivelymanaged.

Eleh said the NMRC wouldboost activities of operators inthe mortgage industry. Hesaid that a refinance companyis the needed in the secondarymarket to fund the PrimaryMortgage Banks (PMBs),noting that’s the way itoperates worldwide.

“There is no way thehousing sector will functionwithout a mortgage. Thecoming on stream of NMCRis very encouraging. TheFederal Government will alsoguarantee the bonds NMRCwill float until it achievessingle or low double digitinterest rate,” he told NewsAgency of Nigeria (NAN).

Eleh said that even if itstarted at low double digitinterest rate, it would still bemore attractive than the 22 percent rate being demanded bycommercial banks, addingthat it would progressivelyattain the one digit interestrate if properly managed. Hesaid that NIESV was alsoencouraged by guaranteedbonds by the government.

Nigerian appointedNew York CityHousing Authoritychairman

The Mayor of New YorkCity, Bill de Blasio, has

announced the appointmentof a Nigerian, Ms SholaOlatoye, as the new Chairmanof the New York City HousingAuthority.

A local mediaannouncement stated thatprior to her appointment,Olatoye was the VicePresident and market leaderfor Enterprise CommunityPartners, Inc. She oversaw across-functional team ofapproximately 50, as theyworked with communitypartners, the public sector andprivate capital sources tobuild and preserveapproximately 3,000affordable homes per year.

Previously, Olatoye wasdeputy director and directorof relationship management,leading production efforts andhelping to develop newproducts and solutions,originating new business andoverseeing relationshipmanagement for Enterprise’smany partners in New York.

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E-Commerce

MEETING: From Left: Group Head, Institutional Banking Group, FirstBank, Mrs. BasiratOdunewu; Director General, Investment Promotion, Invest HK, Mr. Simon Galpin; GroupChairman, FBN Holdings Plc, Dr. Oba Otudeko; Consul General of the Chinese Embassy, Mr.Guo Yulu and GMD, FirstBank, Mr. Bisi Onasanya at the FirstBank, Invest HK launch meetingin Lagos.

The emerging e-commerce in Nigeriais a cake that many

entrepreneurs want to have ashare. Besides retailing, whichis rapidly duplicating all brickand mortar products andservices, there have also beenseries of online business in the‘Business to Consumer ’category like real estate andclassified advertising.

However, operators inretailing, especially startups,usually find to their chagrin,that despite sleek and beautifulwebsites, well designedproduct display and evenimpressive endorsements onthe social networks, patronagecould not match popularity. Insome cases, the operator seesimpressive visits to the site butthe conversion ratio still doesnot pick up. All the customershave turned to windowshoppers.

Several reasons can accountfor this challenge but chiefamong them is lack ofinformation.

Shoppers are prone todeveloping doubts andquestions: How easily can Iexchange these trousers if theydon’t fit? Will my purchasearrive before Valentine’s day ormy partner’s birthday?”; “Howdo I talk to a representative onthe phone? Any one of these isenough to miss out on apotential purchase.

In addition, pricing alsoplays a major role in managingconversion. Prices may be moreuncompetitive than imagined.And the challenge is that in e-commerce, pricing is highlycompetitive. It’s unlikely that,as an operator, your store is theonly one selling a particularproduct, and if you’re notconstantly aware of thecompetitive landscape, it’sentirely possible you’ll beundercut.

Furthermore, the speed

Why e-commerce customersare not buying

By JONAH NWOKPOKUefficiency of your site is not acomplement to your offeringbut a prerequisite to optimizingconversion.

Nothing is as annoying for ashopper as an unresponsiveinterface. There have beennumerous studies that show theslower a site is, the fewerconversions it makes.

It is also likely that you haveenough information on yoursite, armed with competitivepricing and fast and efficientwebsite, and yet not selling. Ifthat is the case, then, theproblem may be poor

discoverability. This is because,if customers can’t find whatthey want, even if they don’tknow they want it, then theyaren’t going to make apurchase.

Besides these, the CEO ofgirlyessentials.com.ng,

an online beauty store, ChinmaNwaozuzu, told FinancialVanguard that, “In Nigeria,where e-commerce is arelatively new terrain, one ofthe major reasons why acustomer might not make apurchase after visiting a

website is because they are stillskeptical about onlineshopping in the country. It isimportant therefore for acompany to first of all instillconfidence in these onlineshoppers so as to negate anyconcerns they might have aboutsecurity (card payments) or thequality of the products they arebuying. One of the ways thiscan be addressed is by offeringas many payment options aspossible. ‘Cash on delivery’ isvery much advised forcustomers that are reluctant tomake payment online.

Tradestable.com.ng hassaid that it has put in

place mechanisms to ensureNigerians who use its platformfor buying and sellingpurposes not only get the bestof deals, but are betterprotected against fraud.

TradeStable is a Nigerianclassified site that also

Tradestable unveils measures totackle online retail fraud

By PRINCEWILLEKWUJURU

specializes in buying andselling used goods!

Tradestable in a statementsaid, it takes personal interestin users of its site, and goes theextra mile to protect theirtransactions by manuallyreviewing every ad that ispublished on its site. Thismeasure, it said, also ensuresthat ads placed on the site areof high standard.

The Managing Director ofTradeStable, Andrew Hall,

explained that in addition tothe safety measures, theplatform also provides aneasier and faster access forusers to search for new andused items to buy in Nigeriawith a new design andfunctionality that makes the sitemuch lighter and easy tonavigate.

“Our platform has a cleanand simple layout andnavigation, making the site theeasiest and fastest to use. Forinstance, while othercompetitive sites have a list ofcategories, ours usually beginwith regions and maps. Thisway, all you have to do is selectyour location, and you stand abetter chance of meeting buyersor sellers within your locality,and not in far-flung areas of thecountry. This is one of thethings that stand us out in theindustry,” he said.

Tradestable is availableacross a variety of devices. Themobile version,m.tradestable.com.ng is verywell adapted to feature phonesand smartphones alike.

Nigeria’s Taxi hailing appservice, Easy Taxi has partnered

with Samsung Technology to boost theuse of the taxi application.

The partnership facilitated a free taxirides for Easy Taxi customers from the14th and 15th of February 2014.

The taxi service, which helps customersbook taxi services using their mobilephones, has since inception, barely sixmonths ago, risen to provide the safestmeans of transportation for Lagosianswith plans to expand to other states

Easy Taxi partners Samsung to boost app usewithin the year.

According to Bankole Cardoso,Managing Director of Easy Taxi, “Thebrand, Easy Taxi is passionate aboutproviding the safest, fastest and mostconvenient Taxi service to Nigerians andhas put in place several customerinteractive measures to ensure this isachieved. The ‘Easy Taxi Samsung FreeDay’ as the campaign was called, was atargeted partnership with Samsung toboost customer service and appreciateusers”.

Google overseastax bill rises

World’s number onesearch engine,

Google has said that itsoverseas tax bill rosesharply in 2013. Googlesaid in its annual reportfiled last week that itsoverseas tax charge,including deferred taxes,was $743 million in 2013.

While this was up from$432 million for 2012, itstax rate on foreign earningswas just 8.6 percent in 2013— around a third theheadline rate in its mainnon-U.S. markets.

A spokesman declinedcomment but Googlepreviously said it complieswith the tax rules of all thecountries in which itoperates.

Google earned 60 percentof its profits outside theUnited States last year,even though foreign saleswere just 55 percent ofrevenues.

Twitter testingredesign ofprofile pagessimilar toFacebook’s

Twitter Inc is testing aredesign of its profile

pages that mimics the lookof Facebook’s timelines,part of the microbloggingservice’s effort to boostengagement as usergrowth slows.

The new design, whichis showing up for a smallset of users, includes awide background photoacross the top of the pageand a smaller profilepicture on the left-handside, similar to memberpages on Facebook’s rivalsocial network. Somepostings are displayedmore prominently and inbolder type.

Twitter, with 241 millionusers compared withFacebook’s 1.2 billion, hassaid that changes to itsproduct this year will helpwoo more people to adoptand stick with the service.The company is aiming tomake the site easier to use,favoring designs thatfeature images andexperimenting withshowing content based ontopics, which may helpnewer users understandthe service better than theycan with chronologicaldisplays.

34 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014

Interview

BY OMOH GABRIEL

C ome March 9th 2014, Otunba(Dr). Michael Olasubomi

Michael Balogun will be 80 yearson planet earth. At 80, most mortalslook frail and sometimes senile,hardly able to piece words together.But talking to Otunba Balogunshows he has the presence of mindof a 60-year-old. He is agile, strongand reads without aid. He attributeshis good health and success in lifeto Almighty God. He hardly saystwo words without giving thanks toGod. In what is more of a more ofphilosophical discussion with somejournalists last week, he reflectedon his life’s journey and concludedthat he has no regrets for everydecision and action he has evertaken. Here are excerpts of hissaintly affirmations.

Why are you celebrating 80th

birthday on reflection?A number of people insisted that

they want to know about myreflections at reaching the age of 80and you should take it from me thatI do not feel 80 and that is the graceof God in me. I do not want anycontroversial question and I am notinterested in politics. I am astatesman, a man of God and Ispend every minute of my lifepraising God.

How do you feel at 80?There is a lot that you can pick

from my modest 80 years to which Iam profoundly grateful to my God.Let me read a letter to you that Iwrote as an invitation by the grace ofthe Almighty God. This letter wentout in the month of January, but Isaid a reflection: By the grace of theAlmighty God, the Alpha and theOmega and the ever faithful, comeSunday the 9th of March, 2014, I willbe marking 80 years of my sojourn,we are all sojourning. Then I castmy mind back and reflect on theamazing and the abundant gracewith which the good Lord hasendowed me during this remarkablespan of 80 years.

I am humbled, and at the sametime bewildered by the awesomepower of our God to crown withsuccess and to protect his ownchosen children in all humanendeavour despite the unusual andnegative intervention or resistanceof fellow human beings.

What are your plans for the restof your life here on earth?

With the greatest sense of humility,I am offering the rest of my life tocontinue to serve my God andhumanity, as well as give thanks forall the good things the good Lordhas done for me. That is what thecelebration is all about and thus Iam bewildered by the amount ofgrace the good Lord has endowedme with, so I thought of going tochurch and thanking God in a choralcommunion service of praise andthanksgiving at the CathedralChurch of Christ, Marina on thatexact date, a holy day, Sunday, the9th of March 2014 by 1pm, afterwhich we will be happy, if you canjoin us at the reception taking placeat a special marquee to be erected atthe TBS.

,

,

At 80, I do not regreof my decisions or ac

What are you expecting from yourwell wishers at the ceremony?

Rather than anyone offering me abirthday present, I will, with all duerespect, want all my friends,relations and admirers to join me inthe endowment of the institutionwhich I built for the upliftment ofhealth care, welfare and survival ofchildren all over Nigeria and whichwill be named the Otunba TunwaseNational Theatre Centre (OTNTC).This institution is located on a 50-hectare land along Sagamu-BeninExpressway. It is equipped with thestate-of-the-art medical appliancesand it is both a primary and tertiarymedical institution for treatment,referral purposes, research into andteaching about all diseases andother health problems of childrenand their nursing mothers.

I have only recently transferred theinstitution as a total gift to theCollege of Medicine, University ofIbadan and is now a satellitecampus of the university. My familyand I, and the management of theinstitution namely — College ofMedicine, University of Ibadan, willvery much appreciate support forthis humanitarian endeavour in lieuof any birthday present for me. Noamount will be too small.

Looking several years back, howdo you feel?

I am just overwhelmed by theenormous goodwill and grace theGood Lord has endowed me with. Attimes I keep on asking: Why me?And the only answer is to say maybeI am a fortunate son of God. So I justbelieve that I should spend the restof my life to continue to give thanksand praise him for all that he has

done for me, because there is noamount of anything that can beenough to thank God. So that is thetheme of my birthday celebration. Ifyou have the grace of God, celebrateit, celebrate old age with grace. Thatencapsulates the different ideas Ihave and the reason for celebratingmy birthday.

You are a renowned banker, when

did you veer into philanthropy?I did not start philanthropy after I became a

banker. I remember I was just about 36 when I sup some scholarship funds to train students in sschools in Ijebu. I gathered that at the last counthere were not less than about 300 universitygraduates that have benefited from my scholarshOne of the schemes is in honour of my mother, another is in honour of my father. But whyparticularly am I showing interest in children? M

A number ofpeople insisted

that they want toknow about myreflections at

reaching the ageof 80 and youshould take it

from me that I donot feel 80 and

that is the graceof God in me

•Michael Olasubomi

,

I am just overwhelmed by the enormousgoodwill and grace the good Lord has

endowed me with. At times I keep on askingwhy me? And the only answer is to say maybe

I am a fortunate son of God.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014 — 35

Interview

et anyctions

setsoment,

hip.and

Many

years ago, the management of theUniversity College Hospital, Ibadan,saw the dilapidated condition oftheir equipment and the wholeenvironment, and they startedinviting some distinguishedNigerians for help. On the day Iwas invited, the late ChiefAdebowale of Adebowale ElectricalIndustries, and Chief Michael Ibruand my myself were invited. Wewere being taken round theUniversity College Hospital, and acousin of mine, a physician,Professor Olumade Adeuja said;“Brother, come and look at thechildren’s ward in UCH at thechildren’s department.’

So I followed him. When I gotthere, a few things happened thatreally brought tears out of my eyes.Some of the children’s beds were aneyesore, just not what they shouldbe. Then I swore that I will spendmost of the rest of my life lookinginto the welfare, survival andhealthcare of children. So I adoptedthe children’s wing of the UCH.That was when I just started thebank. I told the management of theUCH that I would adopt this wing ofthe University College Hospital. Idecided to refurbish the wholeplace, restructure it, changed eventhe linens, bought electrical fittings,air conditioners and changed thewhole place. It is still one of the bestwings of the department of theuniversity college.

Years later, to my surprise, I had aletter from Professor Osuntokun,then Medical Director, that theUniversity Council and thenMinister of Health, ProfessorOlikoye Ransome-Kuti have agreedthat they should name that wing ofthe UCH after me.

If you go to UCH, the right wing,the first floor after the ramp isnamed the Otunba TunwaseChildren’s Emergency Ward. It isone of the best maintained there andI do regular maintenance.

How then did the Ijebu OdeHospital come about?

People from my home town, Ijebu-Ode, on seeing what I did at Ibadansaid it is all around the whole placethat you are doing everything butyou have not done anything in yourhome town, Ijebu-Ode.

It was then I spoke to my royalfather, I said if I am allowed, Iwould want to do something similarin Ijebu, if I could get a piece ofland. Then I was asked to approachthen Governor of Ogun State,Governor Lawal and he said Ishould just go to the GeneralHospital, that whatever I like, Ishould go ahead and do. So Imoved round, I saw a number ofplaces, and I said “look, I need

about 500 hectares. So I built a 40-bed air-conditioned children’shospital which I named after mymother, the Iye Subomi Child CareCentre.

The miracle childOn the day it was being

commissioned, God did somethingwhich I think is a miracle. Where wewere all sitting down with the OgunState Administrator and so manyprominent Nigerians, suddenly weall heard a noise, they thought itwas an accident and someone wasbeing rushed to the hospital in ataxi. To our surprise, with about 500people watching, the driver gotdown and opened the door. Lo andbehold, a woman who had beenlabouring just delivered her baby inthe presence of everyone looking. Iwas moved, then I told one of mysecurity staff around me and said goand tell them I will adopt that child.

So the parents decided to namethe boy Subomi. I did not know theparents. That boy is now 20 yearsold and is in the university beingmaintained by me. He is actually amember of my family. In fact,whenever I am in Ijebu, he isalways coming around together withhis friends. They all come to OtunbaTunwase compound. As a result of

my interest in the welfare ofchildren, I had a letter from theWest African College of Physicianshonouring me among otherprominent Nigerians for what I haddone for the medical field,particularly children.

At what point did you reallyembrace God considering yourAfrican background?

I did not tell you about mybackground which is also veryinteresting. My parents were veryreligious but they were Muslims.When I was at Igbobi College, I was

attending church services regularlyand incidentally, my late motherwas educated and she was the onlyeducated wife of my father. Iconfided in her that I am going to bea Christian.

I accepted Jesus early in my lifeand was confirmed when I was 19years. I am very firm and very muchinterested in the scriptures and thatis because I read a lot, the more Iread the more I get something intothe unfathomable depth of the wordsof the Creator. If I should continueon this thesis, I will write a book.But if you like, I will read anotherpart of my book to you because ithas been a progression.

I became so much involved intalking about Christ. As a student atthe Nigeria College of Arts, I joinedthe Christian movement; this was anevangelistic outreach for studentsthat were going to preach the wordof God. Bola Ige was our head then,he was not a politician then, he wasa student (Christian movement). Butas I grew up in Christianity, while Iwas in London, every Sunday, Iwould go and worship my God.

That was how I got to knowGeneral Gowon. We were staying inthe same hostel in London. EverySunday, I would go to a churchclose to my hostel with GeneralGowon and a number of otherpeople. That was how we created arelationship. Many Pentecostalsbecame my friends but I did notdeviate by leaving my own originalchurch; the Anglican Communion.

At every stage in life, I found thatthe only way is standing with yourGod; always learning at His feet andI have always triumphed.

I have always trusted GodWhen I wanted to be secretary of

Nigeria Industrial DevelopmentBank, (that was why I got intobanking, I trained as a lawyer),someone said; ‘Balogun can onlybecome the secretary of NIDB overmy dead body,’ I was scared. But Istill continued praying. Do youknow that fellow died in the firstcoup and his appointee also died inan accident? One friend of mine, heis still alive, Kunle Ojora, (we wereboth staying at Glover Road, I wasstaying at number 14, he wasstaying at number 53), said;‘Subomi, ori e ma le (meaning:Subomi, you are a tough one).’ Hesaid he will never find someone likeme, that ‘a person they wanted tooffer your job to died on the way toBenin.’ I think I like talking aboutmy appreciation to God rather thantalking about controversial issues.

By January 15, the Nigerian coupoccurred and the minister who said Icould only be appointed over hisdead body died. I was worshiping inthe Cathedral one day, when anIndian gentleman saw me andrecognised me and said ‘Have Iseen your face before?’ I said yes,this face also looks familiar, who areyou? He said he is the GeneralManager of NIDB and said I camefor interview with the bank and thensaid he didn’t know what happened.We got to know ourselves.

,

,

My parents werevery religious but

they wereMuslims. When I

was at IgbobiCollege, I was

attending churchservices regularlyand incidentally,my late mother

was educated andshe was the onlyeducated wife of

my father. Iconfided in her

that I am going tobe a Christian

•Michael Olasubomi,e

36 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014

Cover

“There is nothing morewasteful than doing diligentlywhat should not be done at all.”

President Jonathan took aplane load, or more, of peopleto Davos, Switzerland for whatwas billed as the WorldEconomic Forum, WEF. Theentourage included severalministers, some governors,captains of industry and otherstoo numerous to mention.Although it is billed as a globalforum for tackling worldwideeconomic problems, it isnevertheless noteworthy thatnot all the presidents or primeministers were in attendance.The reason is not difficult todiscover. The WEF had inrecent years become a forumfor the well-employed, well-paid and well-fed to gatherand take care of their owninterests – while pretendingthat they care about the jobless,the poor and those withouthope. Yet, the number ofunemployed people globallyhas been increasing every yearfor over 10 years and thedistribution of wealth hasbecome increasingly skewed infavour of the wealthy andagainst the middle class andthe poor.

Some of the reasons areclear. Virtually all the majormulti-nationals in Davos werein search of nations where theywould receive all sorts of heavyincentives before deciding toestablish factories which arecapital-intensive and employfew people – even though jobcreation was usually the reasonfor granting the concessions

they were granted in the firstinstance.

Allied with that is the factthat increasingly, the jobsbeing created are service jobsand information technologyoriented. They generate veryfew jobs while yielding hugerevenue to the shareholders.Meanwhile, technology israpidly wiping out lots of jobsin every economy – fromemerging economies to themost advanced and there isnothing the whole world cando about it. Two examples willillustrate the point.

Banking sector is sheddingjobs faster than they can becreated elsewhere and keenobservers of the sector shouldbe able to see it. First, the ATMreduced the need for tellersnationwide. At least 130,000jobs were lost on this accountalone and more are on the way.Allied to the ATM is thewidespread use of e-paymentand the cashless economy.Again, more jobs are beingerased everyday. It isestimated that a typical bankwill need no more than 20 percent of its current workforce tooperate in less than 10 yearsfrom now.

Post offices worldwide and inNigeria are also becomingmajor victims of technologyamong which are the e-mail,

Facebook, twitter and othermeans of personalcommunications which get themessage there faster andcheaper. The Nigerian PostalService (NIPOST) can providethe official figures; but,whatever they are, they willmost probably reveal the sharpdrop in letters posted orregistered, stamps purchasedand vehicles needed totransport them. Ten years ago,

are sent on the handset and fewpeople even remember thelocation of the post office intheir area. Since greeting cardsaccount for a vast majority ofthe mail carried in the past byNIPOST, the decline in the useof cards had dealt a mortalblow to card manufacturersand most have quietly closeddown.

There is no need to listseriatim all the sectors of theglobal and Nigerian economywhich had been devastated bytechnology. There is probablyno sector which had not beenvisited by the scourge oftechnology. More worrisome isthe fact that, rather thanabating, the rate of jobdestruction, on account oftechnology, will most probablyaccelerate in years to comechewing up more jobs andleaving millions of peopleworldwide with life-timeunemployment. Already, closeto a generation of youthsglobally have been caught inthe vice grip of life-time ofjoblessness – includingNigerian youths. I have adrawer full of CVs from youngNigerian graduates seekingemployment; some have beenwith me for more than threeyears and all my efforts to getthem placed have provedmostly abortive. Once in a

while, the kid gets lucky and Ihelp find a job. But, it occursso infrequently that it might allbe regarded as absolute failure.Many of the friends andassociates I call on account ofjob seekers had since stoppedpicking the phone. I don’tblame them.

So, when the President tooka plane load of people to theWEF, I was under theimpression that the numberone item on their agenda wouldbe hustling for multi-nationalsto come and establishbusinesses here which aremore labour-intensive and canemploy lots of people. Betterstill, I thought therepresentatives of the countriesin developing countries wouldget the global communitycommitted to developing plansto increase jobs. Instead, therewas a lot of talk about endingthe income inequality betweenthe extremely wealthy and therest of us. But, it is obvious thatthe only way to close the gapis to give the people earningnothing now something to doto earn income.

Instead, the President’sentourage consisted of peoplelike Jim Ovia, Tony Elumelu,Dangote etc; in short, thosewhose banks and businessesare already capital-intensiveand ICT-based and who havelittle interest in agriculture orthe small-scale, medium scaleand micro-enterprises whichare still labour-intensive andcan create more jobs rapidly.

It was a bloody jamboree.

WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM– A waste of time and resources

the NIPOST dreaded theYuletide avalanche of greetingcards and other pieces of mail.Now, it wishes those halcyondays are back. Now greetings

Nigeria spends N1.2trn on vehicle imports in 2013Continued from page 19

It is obviousthat the only

way to close thegap is to give

the peopleearning nothingnow something

to do to earnincome.

,

,

industry and they all made inputinto the policy so the policy isbound to impact on a whole lot ofother sectors like steel,agriculture, chemical, etc. Themost important thing is that noone minister can changeanything in the policy. It has to bedone in conjunction with theMinistry of Industry, Trade andInvestment and the Ministry ofFinance. So, one person cannotget up tomorrow and say I signedthis. And there has to belegislation on it to stop anybodyfrom arbitrarily changing thepolicy and the policy should berenewed every five years.”

A third safeguard to the newpolicy is Vehicle PurchaseScheme, said Jalal.

He pointed out that theautomotive industry has vehiclefinancing scheme.

“NAC will work with OriginalEquipment Manufacturers,OEMs, to establish domesticdealership networks, set upcaptive finance operations andintegrate into the existingbanking systems in the country.Some banks, including a specificbank that currently finances onethird of vehicle purchase in SouthAfrica, are already in a positionto support this scheme and haveexpressed interest,” he said.

According to Madueke, withVehicle Purchase Scheme,

Nigerians would be able to buynew cars instead of second-handor fairly used ones.

“There is no way cars producedin Nigeria will not be cheaper thanthe imported ones. The price ofvehicles assembled in this countrywill not cost beyond N1 to N1.5million and for somebody who isworking in an organisation, by thetime he pays the money over fouryears through vehicle purchasescheme, it is nothing than for himto take N1.5 million cash to buy acar. It is rare. In America andEurope, nobody goes to ashowroom to buy car with cash.They operate a system that allowsyou to pay gradually through thebank. That system was here inNigeria until the collapse of theprevious automotive policy. Thereis even a bank in South Africa andthey are here in Nigeria -StanbicIBTC Bank - they are doing that.Even some other local banks arealso doing it. So, the vehicles willbe affordable and when thevolume of production increasesover time, the prices will comedown.

Dr. Innocent Chukwuma,Chairman, Innoson VehicleManufacturing Limited, toldFinancial Vanguard that he isanxiously waiting for theimplementation of the newnational automobile industrial

development policy by theFederal Government.

“We are happy with theintroduction of new auto policyin Nigeria. It will help the localproducers to survive, therebycreating employment forNigerians. The policy will alsohelp to develop auto industry inAfrica, of which Nigeria is likelyto be in the lead.

He affirmed that InnosonVehicle, just like other

local manufacturers in Nigeria,will benefit a lot from the newpolicy and auto componentmanufacturers will fill up themarket soon, thereby creatinghealthy competition, and ofcourse, Innoson brand of cars willhit the market come April, thisyear.”

He disclosed that the companyproduces IVM carrier truck, SUVG5, IVM 5000 to IVM 6540commercial buses; IVM 6601,IVM 6730, IVM 6800, IVM6850 etc, fully air- conditioned,adding: “Government officials,multinational companies,transport companies, etc, havepurchased our vehicles and foundthem very useful. The standard toois very high.”

He advised that the FederalGovernment should ensure thatthe new auto policy stands the test

of time irrespective of thenegative attacks from vendors offoreign auto plants in Nigeria.With this new policy, Nigeria ison the right part to being truly thegiant of Africa and in the next 10years, Nigeria will be servicingAfrican market effectively,” hesaid. However, Mr. NorbertChukwuma, Managing Director,Nigeria Machine Tools Limited,Oshogbo, said: “The policy isexcellent in that it will spur thegrowth of indigenousmanufacturers of transportvehicles.

“I can assure you that not onecompany is capable of producing30 per cent of the auto parts ofany particular vehicle. It requiresthe whole wide range of support.People are going to supplydifferent components (somebodysupplies the tyre, another suppliesthe seat; radiator, pump etc.), allthese have to come together tomake this policy work. So, intrying to develop the programme,you must also develop theancillary industries - the plastic,metal, petrochemical, and designindustries. All these must cometogether to make the programmework, otherwise we are going toend up purely as a car assemblingcountry. We have to develop thecapacity of other companiesservicing the auto industry to be

able to meet the requirements ofauto parts’ production. Theautomotive policy is a sound onebut for it to work properly; a lot ofother things need to be put inplace.

“I can confidently say thatNigeria Machine Tools is one ofthe companies that can producea sizable number of spare parts.We did it when it was under theFederal Government’s ownership;spare parts were produced forPeugeot Automobile of Nigeria,PAN, and I believe with theupgrade, we can produce a decentamount of spare parts for theindustry.

The Minister of Industry, Trade& Investment, Dr. OlusegunAganga said the benefit derivablefrom the new policy includeforeign direct investment,strengthening localmanufacturers, development ofauto components, skillsacquisition, creation ofemployment and creation ofwholesome industrialdevelopment. The minister visitedSouth Africa in May last year anda Memorandum ofUnderstanding, MoU, was signedto secure South Africa’s input intothe policy, including technicalassistance and sharing ofinformation about the country’sown policies.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014 — 37

CMYK

Insurance

E x e c u t i v eD i r e c t o r ,

Operations and Servicesof Premium PensionLimited, Mr. KayodeAkande, has said that the new pensionscheme is stillundersubscribed withonly about six millionsubscribers consideringthe fact that about sixtymillion Nigerians haveone form of employment

or another.Akande made the

assertion during thecompany’s Customer/Retiree InteractiveForum in some states ofthe South West region ofthe country.

Akande noted that thecontributory pensionscheme is growing andassuming its pride ofplace in the socio-economic landscape ofthe country. Hereiterated the fact thatalmost N4trillion isunder the management

of the scheme that hasenlisted almost sixmillion people.

Akande thereforecalled on allstakeholders to supportthe scheme saying, “Thepension scheme in anycountry enables theamassment of long terminvestible funds to groweconomy.”

He described the newscheme as very secureand the law setting itup, even when it isunder review, has notleft loopholes for corrupt

practices. “Since thenew scheme startedalmost a decade ago,there have not beencases of corruption init,” he said. “All theobjectives of thecontributory pensionscheme have almostbeen met and there hasnot been any pensionerunder the new schemethat has had cause to goon any form of protest.”

Premium Pensionconcluded Customer/Retiree Interactive

New pension scheme still undersubscribed— AKANDEForum in some states ofthe South West regionand the tour has alreadytaken the managementof the company toOgun, Oyo and Osunstates. Meeting theretirees and intendingretirees is a periodicexercise aimed atgauging the success ofthe operations of thecompany in particularand the contributorypension scheme ingeneral.

“It is meant to show us

how the retirees aredoing in retirement aftermany years of service”Akande said whileflagging off theinteractive forum inAbeokuta, Ogun State.“This forum also servesto educate intendingretirees on what theyshould do in the monthsleading to their finaldisengagement fromwork to facilitate theirreceiving theirgratuities and pensionin good time.”

Stories byROSEMARYONUOHA

ADVERT10X 4

G o l d l i n kInsurance Plc

has reassured clients ofits commitment toprompt claimssettlement in the 2014financial year.

In a statement, thecompany said that itscore selling point is

Goldlink assures of quality service in 2014‘prompt claimssettlement’ and it is thecompany’s way ofreassuring clients andthe insuring public ofits stance: Indemnityand provision ofcompensation at thetime of loss.

Goldlink is licensed to

underwrite all classes ofInsurance. Theseinclude: Life & PensionBusiness; MotorBusiness; Oil & Gas;Marine and Aviation;Special Risks; Propertyand Casualty;Engineering and

Contractor All Risks,among others.

The company saidthat its state-of-the-arttechnology hasfacilitated theautomation andoptimization of internal and external

processes with resultantreliable and efficientservice delivery toclients, an importantfactor that guaranteessuccess in all areas oftheir operations.

“As a compositeinsurance company,

Goldlink paid a totalsum of N1.4billion in2013 to our variousinsured, in thefollowing breakdown:N872.5 million forGeneral InsuranceBusiness and N569.8million for LifeBusiness” the companysaid.

38 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014

CMYK

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014 — 39

Advertising, Media& Marketing

CMYK

Charity begins at home” is a thread-bareexpression. In the world of service excellence,however, this cliché still has its place. The

best place to begin the quest for excellent customerservice is right inside the organisation. The bane ofmost service improvement initiatives is that they aretoo externally oriented. In such situations, employeesbegin to think mainly in terms of the external customer.Nothing is really wrong with this kind of thinking, solong as employees equally appreciate the link betweeninternal service and external service.

In the best customer-focused organisations, peoplewithin the organisation see one another as customers.The production people see the marketing people astheir customers. The marketing people see the fieldsales people as their customers. The purchasingpeople see the production people as their customers.People in the human resources department seeeverybody else as their customers and try to create awork environment that encourages optimumperformance. Everybody in the organisation knowsjust how the performance of their job function facilitatesor hinders that of someone else in service delivery.Everybody knows precisely how they contribute tocustomer satisfaction.

This is perhaps just one side of the coin. The otherside has to do with the value the organisation placeson its employees. In those organisations that trulyregard people as their “greatest asset,” it is not unusualto see employees go beyond the call of duty to servecustomers.

The reverse is equally true. Organisations that treattheir employees like filth end up having theircustomers treated the same way.

The point is that if you treat your employees, thereis no guarantee that they’ll treat your customers well– but you have a good chance of getting them to mirroryou. But if you treat them badly, you can bet they willtake it out on your customers!

It is up to you to create the kind of work environmentthat encourages excellent service. How do your teammembers relate to one another? Do they see oneanother as partners working toward the same goals?Or are there (suspicions of) hidden agenda? Dopeople talk to one another with respect or are theyalways hollering to have their way? The way peoplerelate to their colleagues won’t be much different fromthe way they relate to their customers.

Beyond the relational aspects of service, there is theneed to look at the internal systems, processes andstructure. Is the organisation flat or bureaucratic? Isit easy to get things done – or are employees boggeddown by layers upon layers of signatures andapprovals?

Are people empowered to use their initiative, makemistakes and learn? Or is the sword always danglingover those who err? Do employees have the necessarytools for their work? Are employees adequatelyrewarded? What does the company do to retain itsbest employees?

Just as it is important to retain your current customers,it is necessary to retain your good hands. Gettingcompetent employees that fit your organisationalculture is not generally easy. Even when you get goodemployees, it takes a lot of time to train them to meetthe standards of excellence you’ll like to see. Thiswhole idea of treating employees (internal customers)well, making them buy into the corporate vision andmotivating them to render exceptional service has beenaptly tagged “internal marketing” by servicesmarketing scholars. Indeed, the best place to startmarketing is in-house.

Atmosphere forService“Overtime, companies'

f i n a n c i a lcontribution to

Corporate Social Investment, CSI had hit billions of Naira,and because they have lotsof power in the communityand in the national economythey control lots of assets, andsometimes have billions incash at their disposal forsocially conscious investmentsand program.

Whilst devoting real timeand money to environmentalsustainability programs,alternative energy/cleantech,deforestation and varioussocial welfare initiatives thatbenefit employees, customers,and the community wherethey operate, their socialimpact cannot be over-looked.

Based on this, the passageof non smoking tobacco billthe Lagos State House ofAssembly to ban smoking inpublic places is being viewedby tobacco farmers as anattempt to deprive them oftheir lively hood, thus it maybe dangerous if other statesfollow suit, a trend theydescribed as unpalatable forthe economy.

Even though BritishAmerican Tobacco IseyinAgronomy, BATIA welcomedthe non smoking law expectedto take full effect in sixmonths time seems not todample the zeal exhibited bythe farmers when visited attheir farmers at Olugbade, inIseyin, Oyo state.

The farmers who debunkedthe claim by some anti tobacco

Head of Marketing Communications, Guinness Nigeria, FemiAdelusi (c) flanked by winners of Nigeria’s Got Talent Season 2,Robots for Christ at the grand finale of show in Lagos.

CSI as instrument ofdevelopmentStories byPRINCEWILL EKWUJURU

agencies that they areengaged in child labour saidthey only use their childrenduring the holidays. “BATIAdoes not allude to suchissue,” said Mr. RasheedBakare, Chairman NigeriaIndependent Tobacco FarmersAssociation, NITFA, IluaChapter.

Continuing, Bakare said,“in Africa it is the norm

for children to help theirparents in whatever chore.”The argument was furtherexpanded when some of thefarmers said BATIA grantsscholarships to their children,how then could they turnaround to advise us to use ourchildren as labourers, heretorted.

On the other hand, claimsby anti tobacco agencies on

the environmental impact of treefelling by the farmers. BATIAthrough Mr. Thomas Omoyele,Head Leaf Operations, BATIA,Iseyin Agronomy, said annuallyfrom 2009 to 2013, the companyplanted 349,853 Malina and 450timbers (Teak) trees which areused by the farmer for smokingthe tobacco leaves, away todiscourage deforestation.

The farmers also claimed thecompany had advised them toplant trees as a kind of retirementbenefit if they are not strongenough to farm.

The idea by the company tosecure non interest loan for thefarmers to buy tractors shows theinvestment plan by the companyto improve the local farmingcondition of the farmers, likeAhmed Mustapha, a tractorowner said: “The money I usedin buying the tractor was sourcedfrom the bank without interest,and with flexible repayment planspread over four years.”

The company has also investedin partnering with governmentagencies in the likes of theNigerian ConservationFoundation, NCF, Agriculturaland Management TrainingInstitute, ARMTI, RightsInitiative for All, RIFA, and theNational Youths Service Corps,NYSC, for corpers who areinterested in farming.

On his part, Chief EmmanuelEgbeyale, a member of NITFA,in Oke- Ogun, said that ifgovernment places ban ontobacco smoking which willeventually affect tobacco farming,where are the industries where wewould work, he queried.

Continuing, he queried whycan’t government stop brewerycompanies from producing beer,“beers are dangerous to healthas tobacco is claimed to be.”

Unilever Nigeria hasflagged off a 5-minute

radio show tagged, “Wake Upto Lipton."

The show anchored by BoviUgboma, a comedianpopularly known as ‘BOVI’commenced airing on sixdifferent radio stations (BeatFM 99.9, Cool FM 96.9 (Lagos& Abuja), Inspiration FM92.3, Rhythm FM, 97.3, ABSAM Radio Onitsha andIndependent Radio Benin onMonday, February 3rd, 2014.

Speaking at a pressconference to announce thecommencement of the radio

Unilever flags off “Wake Upto Lipton” radio show

show, the Category Manager,Tea & Spreads, UnileverNigeria Plc, Vivian Ihaza,said the 'Wake Up to Lipton'Radio Show is a 5 minuterecorded radio show anchoredby BOVI which allowsconsumers and listeners to theshow to start their day rightby listening to funny twists onpopular phrases.

She said the programme wasconceived from a strong desireto help the Lipton Teaconsumers and all listeners tothe show kick-start their day ina mood that would help ensurea fun and brighter day.

40 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014

Email:lesleba@lesleba.com, lesleba@gmail.comBlog page:www.lesleba.com/blog2Website: www.lesleba.comTel:0805 220 1997

Business & Economy

Omoh Gabriel - Group Business EditorBabajide Komolafe - Finance EditorClara Nwachukwu - Energy EditorPeter Egwuatu - Head, Capital MarketYinka Kolawole - Snr Bus. CorrespondentFavour Nnabugwu - Insurance CorrespondentGodwin Oritse - Maritime CorrespondentGodfrey Bivbere - Maritime CorrespondentMichael Eboh - Capital Market ReporterOscarline Onwuemenyi - Energy ReporterFranklin Alli - Industry/Agric. ReporterAmaka Abayomi - Money market ReporterEbele Orakpo - Energy ReporterIfeyinwa Obi - Maritime Reporter

CONTRIBUTORSPrincewill Ekwujuru - Media/MarketingNaomi Uzor - IndustryProvidence Obuh - Micro FinanceLAYOUT - Graphics Department

CMYK

THERE was general publicoptimism when Dr.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,returned for a second term asthe Finance Minister and alsoCoordinating Minister of theEconomy, and promised thatthere will be strict discipline ingranting imports duty waiversduring her tenure. In contrast,however, almost three yearslater, the Minister admitted thatgovernment has since grantedabout N171bn of waivers inthree years! However, TheComptroller General ofCustoms, Alhaji AbdullahiDikko, on the other hand, hadinformed the legislature at thepublic hearing that the federaltreasury lost over N603bn fromimport duty waivers to variouscompanies between Januaryand December 2013 alone.

Thus, we had consequentlyborrowed at an average cost ofover 12% to fund about 60% ofa budget deficit induced by awaiver of over 15% of totalprojected revenue in 2013.

In the wake of ensuingpublic debate on this matter, thePunch newspaper raneditorials, which accused theFinance Minister ofdoublespeak

Curiously, however, rather than challenge

the Customs Service helmsmanto substantiate the allegation ofN603bn revenue loss fromwaivers, the Finance Ministerlaunched a media offensive onboth domestic and internationalfronts on the Punch newspaperfor allegedly “trivializingcorruption”.

Nonetheless, in July 2013, a‘Financial Vanguard’investigation had disclosedthat waivers granted to a fewhighly placed individuals toimport refined vegetable oil,soya bean meal and relatedproducts have put localvegetable oil and otherassociated manufacturers onthe verge of total collapse, withhundreds of thousands of

attendant job losses. Similarly, a coalition of Oil

Palm Value Chain Associations,which includes plantationowners and oil palm growers,also decried “the debilitatingissues of selected waivers andillegal importation of crudepalm oil, which have becomethe killers of the palm oilindustry in Nigeria.” Nonetheless, in spite of suchopposition, government,according to the same report,allegedly granted waivers forimportation of 250,000 metrictons of vegetable oil to afavoured company, while aconcessionary rate of zeropercent duty and zero percentVAT on the importation of soyabean meal for poultryconsumption from 1st March to31 December 2013 was alsoapproved, in spite of the threatthis constituted to localfarmers! Curiously, animporter of cigarettes alsoreceived duty exemption of overN70m.

The Lagos Chamber of Commerce & Industry is

not left out from criticism of theadverse impact of selectivewaivers. Muda Yusuf, theDirector General of LCCI,noted that the “LCCI is of theview that waivers aredetrimental to the economy…. It creates a situation of unfaircompetition, giving one playeran edge over the others; itleads to huge revenue loss togovernment and also, results,”according to Yusuf, “in theperpetuation of a renteconomy, as it weakens themoral authority of the politicalleadership to curb corruption.” Yusuf therefore, decried theunexpected somersault onOkonjo-Iweala’s earlierpromise on waiver approvals!

Furthermore, LateefOyelekan, President of theNational Union of Food,Beverage and TobaccoEmployees, also called for a“total end to import waivers, as

these waivers were not onlykilling the local industries, butalso compoundingunemployment and insecurityin the country”.

Nonetheless, the FinanceMinister insists that import dutywaivers were also adopted byadvanced countries to growtheir economies and createjobs.

Incidentally, theManufacturers’ Association ofNigeria (MAN) appears to bethe only trade or industrial

stakeholders and indigenouseconomic operators; indeed, asan executive member of MANIkeja Branch (comprising over600 registered manufacturers),I am aware that the advertorialis certainly not the opinion ofthe majority of our branchmembers!

Indeed, in October 2013, onthe occasion of the 46th

Annual General branchMeeting, which was wellattended by the press, our

imports waiver. In the lightof the foregoing, thesubsequent full page advert byMAN in support of waiversmay not come as a surprise;nonetheless, one wonders whythe apparently ‘closet’relationship between the MANPresident and the governmenthas not led to the adoption offiscal and monetarymanagement that will bringdown inflation below 2%, as inZimbabwe, a sister Africancountry, and similarly alsobring cost of funds to singledigit, to impartially create theerstwhile elusive enablingenvironment for allmanufacturers across theboard. The casino strategy ofselective bailouts and indeed,Bank of Industry loans, whereits 9% rate of interest becomescompounded by an array ofcharges, which push effectivecost of funds well above 20%,have been adjudged bystakeholders in the criticaleconomic sectors to beinappropriate to drive rapidindustrial growth withincreasing job opportunitiesand enhanced social welfare.

The Nigeria IndustrialRevolution Plan, which waslaunched by PresidentJonathan last week, willinevitably fail just like severalearlier economic blueprints,because of the EconomicTeam’s apparent denial of thepivotal importance of lowersingle digit rate of inflation andsingle digit cost of funds torapid economic growth; showme a country that positivelytransformed its economy withan abiding inflation rate of 8%,and real sector cost of funds atover 20%!

Meanwhile, a well-articulated strategy for curbingCentral Bank’s compulsiveexpansion of money supply,which fuels rising inflation andtriggers higher interest rateswas provided on request to theMAN President on at least twooccasions; regrettably,however, anacknowledgement of receipt isstill to come over a year after!

Is MAN in support of waivers?

subsector that supportsgovernment’s waivers. In arecent full page advertorial inthe Guardian edition of January28, 2014, MAN stoutly came outin defence of the government,with the caption “Waivers andExemptions: government’sincentives are boosting theeconomy and creating jobs”.

Certainly, MAN managementis obviously on a differentpage with all the other major

special guest, the nationalMAN President, Chief KolaJamodu, who incidentally, doesnot own any manufacturingcompany, himself, was visiblyanxious and bullishlyattempted to stop apresentation by a seasonedmanufacturer, whose $7minvestment on a new steelrolling plant to increase localproduction, had becomejeopardized by government’s

•Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala •Alhaji Abdullahi Dikko

Agenda in line with Vision 20-20-20, export of services is a “quickwin” for Nigeria.”

Speaking during a one dayinteractive session on“Outsourcing”, organised byNEPC in collaboration with theAssociation of OutsourcingPractitioners of Nigerian (AOPN)with the theme: “Harnessing theOutsourcing Potentials for Export:The Way Forward,” he said thatNigeria will derive benefits whenit becomes the outsourcingdestination in Africa, stating,“This will have the multiplier effectof improved living standards forour people and faster economic

NEPC explores service industry to boostnon-oil export

NIGERIAN ExportPromotion Council

(NEPC) weekend, gave reasonswhy it is exploring the servicessector of the economy to boostnon-oil export.

Mr. Olusegun Awolowo,Executive Director/ ChiefExecutive Officer, NEPC, said,“For Nigerian economy to bediversified in a sustainablemanner and to create moreemployment and generate morewealth which is the main thrust ofMr. President’s Transformation

growth.” Represented by DirectorProject Development NEPC, Mr.Henry Otowo, he explained that thesize and importance of services tothe global economy is illustratedin the value of some services sectorssuch as education, with anestimated value of $30 billion in2004, Medical Tourism $20 billionwhich is expected to double in 2010.“Between 2012 and 2013, theService Sector contributed 60percent to India’s GDP while itaccounted for 70 percent of New-Zealand’s GDP which was worth$150 billion. Statistics from theITC has indicated that by the year2050, about 80 percent of theworkforce worldwide will beworking in the services sector.

,,

Incidentally, the Manufacturers’Association of Nigeria (MAN)appears to be the only trade or

industrial subsector that supportsgovernment’s waivers

BY PROVIDENCEOBUH